


Apprentice of Death: Book 2

by InkStainedHands1177



Series: Apprentice of Death Books [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Harry Potter, BAMF Tom Riddle, Did I mention that Harry Lies?, F/M, Harry Lies, Harry and Tom Meet his family, M/M, Mentions of self-harm, Not quite good Harry Potter, Possessive Tom Riddle, Repeated Mentions of Suicide, Very Not Good Tom Riddle, there will be magical mumbo jumbo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:27:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 40,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21632176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkStainedHands1177/pseuds/InkStainedHands1177
Summary: It's summer with the Dursleys, and Harry is certain that she is in hell, just not the shadowy kind filled with ghosts.
Relationships: background relationships at the moment
Series: Apprentice of Death Books [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1546282
Comments: 68
Kudos: 245





	1. Damn You Dobby

**Author's Note:**

> A few of my readers expressed discontent with how the first book ended. I assure you that even though it seems contrived, it really isn't, and it will make sense as the books unfold. I wrote these books all in a row. There are questions brought up in book one that will be answered in book seven. There will be events in this book that will be explained in book six. It's all connected. Each book will not be neatly wrapped up with all questions answered. That will happen in book seven when the series is complete.  
> Thank you for continuing your reading of my work. I welcome comments and constructive criticism.  
> Ink...

~several weeks after school let out~

Staring out the window in her room, Harry watched the burning fields and listened to the screaming of the souls. 

“Harriet…your parents are here.”

She jumped off her bed and rushed out of her room and into the living room. James grinned at her and motioned for her to sit down. “How’s my little girl?!”

Lily laughed and floated beside Harriet. “I wish I could hug you, my dear.” Harry smiled at them and then noticed Death leave the room.

They had heard everything from her a few days ago. Harry had told them through tears and apologies about what she had been forced to do. They had forgiven her but warned her that Grindelwald wouldn’t sit idly by in a cell now that his magic was restored. 

James crossed his arms. “Young lady, I have been thinking about what you told us, and I realized that this is the first time you’ve told us about this Tom fellow. What’s his family like?”

“Well, he’s an orphan, but he’s from…” She stared at her diehard  _ Gryffindor _ father and bit her lip. “Erm, he's half Muggle on his father’s side.” James softened and smiled at Lily.

“And his mother?”

“Well, she was of the Gaunt family. Merope Gaunt is her name.” Harry hid her wince, hoping he wouldn’t make the connection.

“Oh! I knew her! She’s in the fields of Oblivion. All the traumatized spirits go there for peace and rest and no memory of what happened in life. The poor girl. I feel sorry for her.” Lily sighed and folded her hands.

James wasn’t to be deterred. “And has Sirius met this boy yet?”

“Er, no, Pettigrew hasn’t been found. I haven’t found out how to free Sirius without the rat. However, he is getting fatter and healthier and stronger, he exercises in his cell now, in his dog form and human. He’s happy, just going a bit stir crazy at the moment, but the dementors are leaving him alone now.” Harry grinned. “We also write letters back and forth, but no, Sirius hasn’t met Tom.” She drew herself upright and tried to stop the blush. “And I don’t think he needs to. Tom isn’t like that. The boy doesn’t care about love. He’s only eleven!”

Lily gave her husband a firm look. “She’s right, James.” James wilted slightly and then huffed.

“Only want to know about this boy who Harry was willing to give magic over for! That’s all. Know practically nothing about him.” He looked at Harry and grinned. “But I’m proud of my daughter. Seeker and winning her first two big matches! Slytherin and Hufflepuff!” He winked and then chuckled in pride. “Chip off the old block.”

“Hopefully she didn’t get your block _ headed _ tendencies,” Lily muttered at him drily. James made an affronted face while Harry giggled. 

They chattered on until Harry made a slip. “Well, I don’t see Tom unless it’s at mealtimes or classes, you see. He’s in Slytherin after all, so we do study halls together after class. Hermione and he can’t stand each other! You should see them in Potions…Dad?” Her father’s translucent face was darkening.

“SLYTHERIN?!”

“Er…”

“Now I remember Gaunt! I knew the name sounded familiar! Gaunt! They are the direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin! YOU’RE FRIENDS WITH  _ THE  _ SNAKE?!”

“Now James! Honestly!”

“My daughter, the direct descendant of Godric Gryffindor himself, is cavorting with Slytherin’s spawn?!”

“Dad!” Harry stared at him and then jumped up and shook her finger at him. “Thomas Riddle is a powerful wizard and will be great one day! I would rather him an ally than an enemy! Besides, he doesn’t fancy me…much. And I’m eleven! With a Dark Lord to kill! I’m much too busy to be courted.” Harry looked away primly.

Lily laughed and shook her head. “James, sit down. You’re working yourself into evaporation! Look at you!” He  _ was  _ starting to fade because of his agitation.

Huffing, James sat down sulkily. “I’ll sic Sirius on him.”

“OH NO YOU WON’T!” Harry gave her father a look. “I’m eleven years old! Not sixteen! There’s nothing for you to be worried about! Why do I have to defend myself?!” She crossed her arms and sulked.

James looked at his daughter, the spitting image of himself and saw a stubborn young girl who wouldn’t back down. He chuckled tiredly. “I see what you mean.”

“Good!” Harry looked at her mother and smiled. 

Lily smiled at her husband and then at her daughter, but she began to frown after a moment. Harry looked at her with concern.

“Mum?”

“You never told us. Who fired the Killing Curse at you? If Quirrell was too weak at the time, and Grindelwald didn’t have his magic…”

Harry pressed her lips into a thin line. “I don’t know how weak Quirrell was at the time. If he was able to pull off a full Killing Curse or not, but if he wasn’t…” She stared at her parents. “Someone else is out there who wants me dead.”

Looking at each other in worry, James and Lily held hands and tried to put on smiles for their daughter and change the subject. There was nothing to be done about it at the time.

~sometime later~

After bidding goodbye to her parents, who still didn’t know about how the Dursleys treated her, Harry swiftly went back to her cupboard. She looked around the house and realized that she was coming back on a day of a party or something. 

Slipping up to her aunt, Harry spoke softly. “I’ll go out then, Aunt Petunia. I won’t even be in the house.”

Petunia looked at her closely and then nodded. “Don’t come back until thirty minutes after eleven.”

“Right.” Harry sighed, grabbed her things and slipped out. She wandered the streets.  _ What should I do from four in the afternoon to midnight? _

She grinned. “Go shopping!” Grabbing some coins that she had buried in her backyard, Harry held out her wand, hopped onto the Knight Bus, held on for dear life, and then hopped off at Diagon Alley.

She tapped on the wall and went shopping. Looking through the shops and stores, Harry grinned and noticed something. She bought a beautiful shaving set for Sirius’ birthday that was coming up. She also bought him a change of clothes and a set of combs and then, on impulse, traveled to his vault and found his wand. She slipped out quickly before any alarms could be raised in Gringotts.

With a little laugh a smile, she faded away and reappeared at his door. She knocked lightly, keeping an eye out for guards of the human variety. “Sirius? You decent?” 

“Harriet?! Yeah, come on in.” Harry slipped through the door and grinned at him. After giving him a hug, she enlarged the items. 

“Comb set, shaving set, and another set of clothes. And your wand! I was able to have it repaired from being snapped. Happy birthday!” She clapped her hands happily and grinned at him. “Now, where do you wanna go today? Scotland? Ireland? Nova Scotia? The Maldives? The Bahamas? Thailand? Japan? China? India? Israel? South Africa? South Korea?”

Looking up from his wand, he laughed and thought about it. “Scotland. Just the good old backyard.”

Harry grinned, put his things away in his invisible closet, and then held out her hand. “It’s gonna be like dementors and shadowy and scary. Just to warn you.”

He nodded and held on tighter. She traveled them through the underworld and then opened the veil on the other side. Sirius shivered but shook it off when he transformed into a huge black dog with glossy fur. He barked happily and romped in the grass, sniffing at mysterious piles and chasing butterflies and squirrels. 

When Sirius transformed again, they sprawled spread eagle on the grass, staring at the blue sky. For a while, they just pointed out the different pictures that the clouds were formed into.

After a while, Harry called for Harold and asked for an entire picnic basket of lunch, complete with a chocolate cake and a iced pitcher of tea.

When Harold came back, Sirius spread the blanket while she set out the food. She told him everything that happened while he asked questions. 

Grindelwald’s return. Tom growing attraction to her. Her father’s reaction to Tom. The Dursley Problem (old news but still a current issue).

Sirius didn’t much like Tom, and he could understand James’ point of view. “You see, Harry. For ten years, he didn’t know anything, and you’re still keeping secrets from them, about Lily’s sister treating you badly.” He raised his hands fast. “I know! I know! You don’t want them to worry or get angry about something they have no control over. I understand, but James was always very smart about these things. He could always tell when someone was keeping a secret from him. It rankled him bad whenever it was someone he cared about. He knows you’re not telling him everything. He thinks it’s about Tom Riddle.” He sighed and pulled out another chicken leg.

Harry sighed and nibbled on a cracker. “Well, what am I going to do? Do I tell him everything? Nothing? There truly isn’t anything going on between me and Tom. Tom and I.” She corrected herself before Sirius could. He was a grammar Nazi.

Sirius shrugged lazily. “Well, you should play it by ear. Personally, I think you should tell them about the Dursleys. True, it will hurt Lily to learn how horrible her sister really is, but they deserve to know about your issue. They’re strong, and they might even know of a way to get the Dursleys to treat you right. You should sit down with them and tell them everything. Maybe not in as much detail as you told me, but enough to get the point across. It’ll kill Lily, but she deserves to know how her own sister is treating her daughter. They deserve to know.”

Harry sighed but nodded. “Sirius?”

He looked up from his tea. “Yes?”

“Do you…was I wrong to give Grindelwald back his magic?” Her eyes were downcast. Her voice wavered.

Sighing, Sirius shook his head. “Another tough question. Listen, Harriet, in this world, everyone’s got an opinion. They think they’re the only ones who are going through something tough. They don’t believe that anyone could  _ ever _ understand them. Thing is, most people have opinions and do things that can be justified pretty easily. Your actions are justified. You knew that Tom would die if you didn’t do as Grindelwald said.” He set his tea down and rubbed his face tiredly.

“However, if I know you, then I know that you’re beating yourself up about it, thinking ‘what if I had done this, or this, or  _ this’ _ . Harry,” he stared at her hard, “you made the best decision you could with what you had at the time. What you had included what you thought about. If that was the only thing that came to mind, then that’s what you had. You made your decision. You made your choice. To regret it is to waste time that you could use correcting it. So, what are you going to do to correct your actions?” He watched her closely.

Harry thought about her response carefully and then said, “Take back the magic the first chance I get.”

He smiled and nodded. “That’s my girl.”

They smiled at each other and continued their picnic before packing up, and heading back to Azkaban Hotel.

~rewind back towards the beginning of summer~

Tom stared at the parchment, that had a drop of his blood on it, in his shaking hands. He watched the blood sink into the fibers of the paper and expand into letters and spread across the page into a blood status report. He swallowed as he quickly read it.

Triumph bloomed inside him.

This was his proof. He was Thomas Marvolo Gaunt-Riddle, Heir of Slytherin. Heir! 

A smile bloomed on his face as plans started unfolding in his mind.

He had a lot to do.

~present time~

Tom stared out the window of his room. He shared it with Ron. That took some getting used to, but so far, life with the Weasleys was  _ much _ better than at Wool’s. 

“Ugh, wish you hadn’t let it slip to Mum that we had homework!” Ron’s forehead hit the table. Tom smirked over at him. 

“Little Lion Lost?” He raised an eyebrow at the redhead. Ron flicked him an irritated look before looking down at his charms essay. 

Ron gave him a pleading look. “Come on, Tom. Give me a hand! I’m sorry about calling you a prissy!”

Thinking about it, Tom realized he could listen to Ron’s whining the whole day or help him and not have to listen to it anymore. Sighing, he got up and moved over to Ron’s desk. 

“What’s your thesis?”

~sometime later~

When the essay was finally finished, Ron gave a tired cheer of triumph. Tom had to admit that the boy was smart, he just didn’t allow himself to be.  _ Which is curious. Why would anyone strive to be stupid? Is it his idea of rebellion? _ He stifled a snort and then looked up when Ginny rushed passed, shouting dinner was ready. 

“Come on.”

“Great! I’m starved!” Ron grinned and tore out of the room. Tom rolled his eyes. That was another thing he didn’t like about the Weasleys. They had no manners at the table. Talked with their mouths full, elbows on the table, everything. 

He and the other children had been trained by Mrs. Wool to have good manners. Good manners attracted good parents, she would always say.

_ Not that I ever had a chance with her always warning them away from me, the old bitch. _ He kept his snarl inside him and sat down between Fred and Ron. Percy was saying something about his OWLs and what not. Tom looked at Ginny and asked for the bread rolls. She passed them to him.

The owl- Errol- flew in like he was at Death’s door. Tom snorted when he didn’t quite make it inside and simply flopped over the windowsill. Ron shook his head. 

“How humiliating.”

Tom had to agree with him.

Molly Weasley picked up the owl and took the letters before depositing him on the bottom of his perch. She divvied out the letters. Ron frowned. 

“Any from Harry?”

Tom looked up. “She hasn’t written to you either?” Ron shook his head, concern in his eyes. 

Thinking back on how Harry never really answered his questions about her home life, he couldn’t help the scowl forming on his face. That night, he didn’t undress like usual. Ron frowned at him. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m going to apparate over to Harry’s.” Tom put on his coat. 

“No need for that!” George grinned as he walked in. 

Fred smirked. “Naw, we’ll just steal Dad’s flying car.” He pulled out the keys. Tom smiled. Ron looked awed. 

~meanwhile~

Harry flinched as another stroke of the belt hit her flesh. Biting on her tongue, she stopped herself just short of crying out. She hadn’t even been at the house and yet Vernon blamed her for that strange creature appearing and scaring the shit out of their guests. She hadn’t even been here, and she was still being punished. 

Rage flared inside her, licking at her soul. She screamed. “ENOUGH!”

The belt in Vernon’s hands erupted into flames. Turning, Harry pulled her shirt on properly, now sticky with her blood. She clenched her fists and screamed in rage again, “STOP  _ HURTING  _ ME!” She stomped her foot, and every piece of glass shatter in the house. Expressions of terror were on their faces.  _ Good _ . Harry snarled at them, hatred showing through her eyes. 

Petunia straightened. “Enough of this, Harriet! Stop acting like a little monster!”

Giving the woman a dead eyed stare, Harry studied her. “If you keep treating someone like a monster, then you shouldn’t be surprised when they turn into one.” She smiled at them in a broken sort of way. “Unless you want the entire fucking house to go up the way that belt did, then give me Dudley’s spare room, stop beating me, give me three square meals a day, and leave me the fuck ALONE!” 

Cold terror crept over them as they saw shadows coming off of Harry. Petunia grabbed all of Harry’s magical things and put them in Dudley’s room of broken toys. Harry gave them all cold looks.

Her magic wouldn’t be registered by the Ministry, considering it wasn’t through a wand, but she still received a letter because of that blasted House Elf. Harry again wondered what the idiot wanted.

She found out later that night.

Grabbing onto the Elf, she traveled with him into the backyard and began her interrogation. When she found out about him keeping her letters, she hit the fucking roof. She was so done with people doing things against her, and then turning around and saying it was for her fucking good. 

When she was done screaming at the elf (she had put a wandless silencing charm around them), she grabbed the letters and then summoned Harold. “Make sure Dobby doesn’t bother me at my home again.” She looked at Dobby. “You came to warn me. Thank you for that. I would ask you to stay and have tea, but you have done me a serious wrong by taking something of mine that isn’t yours to take. I’m sorry, Dobby, but because of this, I can’t trust you. Get out.” 

The Elf was sobbing and begging for Harriet Potter to forgive Dobby, but Harry wanted to go to bed, and she honestly didn’t want to forgive the stranger for taking something that wasn’t his. It was so huge a no-no that even House Elves (who are, statistically speaking, greatly lacking in common sense) would know not to do it. Besides, her back was still on fire because of Dobby’s idiocy. She wasn’t a girl prone to violence, but she definitely wanted to punt Dobby into the next yard over! A flimsy excuse of a warning in exchange for stolen letters and eighteen lashes that would have been twenty-five had she not stopped it.

Dobby was taken away by her undead House Elf. 

Harry spent the rest of the night reading the letters that Dobby had stolen from her. The little, well-meaning, idiotic, fiend.

However, about two hours before sunrise, she jumped when the sound of the front door opened. 

“Shh! They’ll hear you, Fred!”

Harry slipped out of her room and out onto the stairs. She stared down at them, before grinning and running down the stairs, mindful of her still healing lashes.

She hugged Tom first, and then Ron, and then the twins. They grabbed her things, and her owl, and slipped out of the house. Harry smirked and wandlessly carved a single sentence into the living room wall, with flaming letters. She charmed it to never burn anything and never stop flaming around the letters. It created a nice dramatic effect.

_ I’ll be back. ~Harry _

That done, she took Tom’s hand and left Little Azkaban for the summer.

Ron looked at her with some concern. “Why didn’t you write to us?! Were they starving you?!”

“No. Someone, a House Elf, was stealing my letters for some reason. Some elf named Dobby.” Harry noticed Tom shift beside her. She quickly scanned his soul and learned that it was the Malfoy elf. She frowned in thought.  _ Why would the House Elf of the Malfoys want to warn me about a possible danger at school? What danger could that be?! Was Lucius Malfoy a follower of Grindelwald?  _

Tom distracted her when he wrapped his arm around her tender shoulders. Harry was startled and jerked away. Tom saw the blood immediately. His eyes darkened.

“So it was beatings that you were hiding this whole time… They weren’t starving you. They were beating you. Lashes. Am I right?” His mind flashed to how fond Mrs Wool is of the switch. He knew Harry’s pain. When Harry didn’t answer, he took ahold of her chin and forced her to look at him. “Am I right?”

She jerked her face away and gave him a glare. “Yes.”

“You can’t go back.”

Giving vent to a soft but bitter laugh, Harry rested head on his shoulder. “I have to, Tom. Blood wards protect me from Grindelwald. And those monsters are, unfortunately, my only blood relatives.” Harry focused on the view outside the window. Tom was silent and then he pressed his hand against her back gently. 

“Episkey.” She blinked in shock as she felt her skin knit together and become soothed. 

“Wandless?”

He smirked. “You told me to look into it. I did.”

Even though she knew how powerful he was, she was still surprised by how talented he was. She had been struggling with it for years, and he could do it in months?! Smiling at him pleasantly, like she often did to everyone, Harry pushed down the bitter jealousy in her. Tom seemed to have everything, even a happy house.

The jealousy was a bit harder to push down when she finally saw how homey and nice the Weasley house really was. She swallowed and smiled through her bitterness, knowing eventually, she would have to go back to the Dursleys. 

_ Well, I won’t. I’ll live full time in the Underworld. I won’t go back. _

She clenched her fists and cemented her resolve. Tom frowned in her direction, but didn’t bother her. He knew he had to visit Draco and warn him about his elf wandering about the country. 

_ What the devil was he doing around Harry? He couldn’t possibly know about my wanting to find my ancestor’s secret chamber. Draco said once how much Dobby adored Harry. Could he simply be stalking her? Reading her letters? _ Tom’s hands fisted in rage.  _ That simply cannot be allowed. _ He knew he had to speak to Draco immediately.  _ Perhaps once we go to Diagon Alley for our supplies, I can speak with him. _

He focused back on the task of getting Harry to eat something. She was as pale as Death and as skinny as a skeleton. He frowned in concern, wondering if she had perhaps relapsed during their first part of the summer…

Both Tom and Harry tuned out Molly’s lecture towards her sons about using their father’s car without permission. Harry continued to look around the house. It was her first Magical house.

Tom grinned faintly. “The mirrors talk to you.” She blinked at him. He grinned wider and nodded. “Called me Mr Prim and Proper once.” He winked, and Harry laughed through her jealousy.


	2. Blaise Zabini

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter Blaise Zabini. Harry has also found a new weapon. Muahahaha  
> Also, Tom is scheming again.

~days later~

Their letters came during breakfast, by school owl. Tom frowned down at his books. “My fund will cover mine for me, so you don’t have to worry about buying my books.” He looked at Mrs. Weasley and then frowned down at his book list. “Whoever this witch or wizard is, they’re awfully impolite to demand such expensive books. Isn’t there a cap on the out of pocket expenses a professor can ask of a student?”

Arthur nodded worriedly. “Perhaps they didn’t know? It is the DADA position. The person may be new.”

Leaning closer to Tom, Harry muttered, “Or just plain rude.” He nodded and then glanced over at Ginny. She had stuck her elbow into the butter dish. 

Harry looked at her in confusion. “Are you alright, Ginny?”

Ginny looked like she was a deer caught in the headlights. “Oh…I-I-I’m f-f-fine!” She jumped up and rushed out of the room. Harry turned to look at Ron, who shrugged.

Tom explained. “Starstruck. The Great Harriet Potter is sitting in her kitchen.” He smirked when she hit him on the shoulder. 

Thinking about something, Harry spoke to Tom eagerly. “I haven’t read anything written from you yet, but what did you find out with your blood test?!”

He laughed in delight. “I’m Salazar Slytherin’s heir alright! I’m also heir to the house of Gaunt, my maternal line. I’m going to be looking into it soon.” He glanced around the table and then spoke quietly. “Apparating next week actually, if you want to come with.” He smiled at her. 

Harry looked at him eagerly and nodded. “I’d love to see where you come from. Actually, afterward, we can go to Godric’s Hollow. That’s where I come from.” He grinned and nodded in agreement. 

“Wonderful.”

They quickly turned back to the main table. Molly was still planning on how to make the spending work. Tom noticed Harry frown. She stood up quickly.

“Mr. Weasley, could I speak to you for a moment?” He nodded quickly slipped from the kitchen with her.

She looked up at him, making sure no one was listening in. “Mr. Weasley, I cannot allow myself to eat your food and sleep in your beds. No!” She stopped him from speaking. “I may be a friend of Ron’s and Tom’s, and I may be a guest, but even a guest pays their debts. I  _ will _ pay you for my room and meals, Mr. Weasley, and  _ not _ because you need it.” She gave him a look. “It is my pride and your responsibility to your family.” 

He stared at her in shock and then sighed. “Very well, but how will you pay me back? As per the contract, I cannot accept any loose coins. It would constitute as bribery or a side job, which isn’t allowed.”

“Let me buy schoolbooks and Ginny’s school things. You can pay for the wand yourself.” Arthur looked shocked and then rubbed his chin. “Just the books, Harry. I shan’t accept anything else.” Sighing, she acquiesced with a nod. He smiled at her. “Thank you.” She smiled up at him and gave him a quick, light hug.

“Thank you for taking me in, Mr. Weasley. I will never forget your kindness.” She moved away quickly and entered the kitchen again. Molly wasn’t even suspicious, which was odd until Harry noticed that Tom had been distracting her the entire time. She winked at him. He winked back. Ron looked at them and then raised his eyebrows. Harry motioned to him that she would explain later. 

When they crowded into the living room, Harry eyed the fireplace and bit her lip. “I’ve never…” Ron winced and quickly explained to his mum how Harry had never used the floo before. Tom had when they had gone to Gringotts.

When they started barraging her with instructions, Tom smirked until he saw how the ash made her cough and mumble. He looked at Ron. “Will she be alright?”

Arthur chuckled nervously. “Course. I’ll just go and…track her down.” He smiled at Tom and quickly jumped into the floo.

~meanwhile~

Harry groaned as she got herself off the floor. She was in Borgins and Burkes. Rolling her eyes, she cleaned herself off quickly with her wand and then straightened when she heard the bell chime as someone entered the shop. 

Eyes widening, Harry silently cursed as she saw it was Draco. If he saw her, then might set that house elf on her again, or tell Tom she was in Knockturn Alley (a place that sold Necromancy material). Either way, she didn’t want Malfoy to know where she was, so Harry hid quickly and tried to slow her rapid heartbeat. 

She listened intently and frowned.  _ Mr. Weasley is raiding people’s homes, so Lucius Malfoy wants to get rid of everything. Makes sense. _ She shrugged and then paused in her move to leave when she saw a ritual bone dagger. ‘ _ Is that a real, authentic dagger?’ _

_ ‘It would seem so, Harriet, and the fool doesn’t know it’s true price. Fifty galleons?! I’m insulted!’ _ Death’s voice curled around her mind.

Pulling open her purse, she grabbed fifty coins, stacked them beside the dagger, and then snatched the dagger and traveled via Shadows Express to get to Diagon. She went into her bank and grabbed more money before heading back to the floos.

“Harriet?! Oh Harriet! I’m so glad we found you!” Arthur Weasley was cut off when Tom grabbed her and held her tightly against him.

“What happened?!” He pulled away, still holding onto her tightly. Harry smiled at him.

“Flooed into a random person’s home. I don’t know who was more shocked, me or the wizard, but I apparated quickly away.” She made a ‘keep it quiet’ motion. Tom nodded. He knew she didn’t want anyone to know how talented she was. He understood her reasoning and kept to it himself. No one quite knew how powerful or knowledgeable he was either. 

While the others went into the bank, Harry met up with Hermione and walked over to the bookshop. They faltered slightly. Hermione squealed and rushed into the shop. Harry frowned in utter confusion. 

“What in blazes?”

“Of course you wouldn’t know about Gilderoy Lockhart. He’s a major celebrity. Nearly all the witches adore him, and nearly all the wizards despise him.” Harry looked over and smiled at Blaise.

“Hello, Zabini. How are you?”

“Quite well, and you?”

She laughed and shrugged. “Doing as well as can be expected. So, this explains my usually tasteful friend acting like a total moron and how the female population of the Wizarding Community became drooling half-wits overnight?”

Blaise laughed clear and deep. Harry liked that laugh. In fact, she didn’t mind what she was seeing at all. Harry stopped herself from blushing at the thought. That was unlike her. He edged closer to her. 

“Shall we brave the hordes?” His dark eyes twinkled. Harry smiled up at him slyly and nodded. 

“But only if my gallant Slytherin Knight escorts me into the Den of Hens.” He snickered and offered his arm. She took it, and they entered into the utterly packed shop.

Harry tracked down the man in charge and gave him ten galleons to collect all the book sets that she would need. “I will need, seven sets of books for various grades.” She listed everything out, and he brought them over. When Harry showed her gold, he was only too quick to serve her hand and foot. 

When they had gotten all the books, Harry smiled at him in gratitude. “Thank you, sir! I know you must have your hands full what with this book signing nonsense going on.” She grinned at him prettily. Blaise watched in rising amusement. The man griped and groaned to a sympathetic ear before being called away. 

Harry paid and then had all the books delivered to the Weasley home. She smiled and moved to depart with Blaise when suddenly Lockhart spotted her. Harry cursed and acted instinctively. She covered herself in shadows and made both she and Blaise invisible. Dragging the stunned boy out, she evaded Lockhart’s idiotic attempts completely and then revealed them both once outside. 

“You’re a Necromancer.” Blaise stared at her and then quickly pulled out a ring. “Don’t run!” She slowly allowed herself to relax and study the ring.

“A Death Stone?” She stared at him in shock. “You’re one too?!”

Looking around, Blaise pulled her aside and sat them both down at a nearby cafe. “Listen, I’m learning from my mother. It’s a family art. Everything she knows, I’m learning. The magic form has been passed down the generations, but it’s clear that you know a lot more than we do. I’m willing to do  _ anything _ for you if you train both my mother and myself.” He stared at her earnestly.  Harry bit her lip and then jumped when he grabbed her hands. “Please, Potter? It’s clear that you’re a well of information! I’ll do anything!”

“Alright. I’ll talk to your mum and see what she’s planning on doing with the information. If your family is alright, then I’ll teach you what I can.” He nodded somberly and then let his face break out into a grin. 

“Thank you!” Harry laughed when he pulled her into a hug.

“Ahem.”

They jumped apart and stared uneasily at a seething Tom Riddle. Harry smiled and stood up, sliding up to Tom fluidly, and easing into his side, making him automatically wrap his arm around her shoulders.  “You can pay me back later, Tom. I already ordered your books and had them delivered.” He blinked and then nodded. 

“What were you and Zabini talking about?”

Harry smiled and looked at Blaise intently. “Just telling him the good news about your blood test.” She pouted. “Turns out he already knew. Everyone knew except me! Anyway, I told him that I would show him around Muggle London. His mother is a fan of Renoir, and as you know that can only be bought in Muggle London, so I’ll be his escort, considering he’d be like a lamb in the slaughterhouse out there on his own.” She laughed lightly and happily. “It would be a pity to lose all that lovely magical blood!” She grinned in delight.

Tom shook his head. “There you go again. Sometimes you’re serious and then you suddenly turn insane. You’re more twisted than I am, Harry.” She pecked him on his cheek and winked.

“Thank you, Tom!” With that, she pranced away towards Mr. Weasley. 

Giving Zabini a dark look, Tom studied him. “I don’t want you going to Muggle London with Harriet. Find some other way of getting there. In fact, I don’t want you to be anywhere near her again. Stay away and simply watch at a distance. Understand?”

Blaise nodded and then swallowed as he saw Draco walking up. Tom jerked his head. “Get going.” Blaise waved to Draco and shot away fast. He glanced one more time in Harry’s direction before turning a corner and vanishing from sight. Harry frowned. 

She looked over at Tom and Draco and knew he was telling Draco about Dobby. She slipped closer and turned invisible. 

“I don’t know what he was up to, but I want him stopped. If he was stalking Harriet, that’s still sick. If he was trying to warn her for some reason about the chamber, then he should be stopped anyways.”

Draco frowned. “Why haven’t you told Harry?”

Shrugging, Tom shoved his hands into his pockets. “Haven’t had the chance. She’s always being hovered over by Molly Weasley.” He rolled his eyes. “I’ll tell her eventually, but in my own way and time. I refuse to be rushed by a stupid elf. Keep him in line this time.”

“Sure thing, Tom. Sorry about it.” Draco started talking to him about nothing in particular, Snake politics. Harry made a face and moved away. She revealed herself and then joined the others in the herb shop for potions. Tom quickly joined them soon after. 

Harry looked at Ron. “Where are Hermione and your mum?”

Barking a laugh, Fred winked at her. “Mum’s in line for an autograph, and so is Hermione.”

Harry felt ill. “I thought she had taste. The man is obviously a ponce and tosser. Probably wanks to his own picture.”

The boys lost it and started howling in laughter. Tom only grinned and shook his head at her in amusement. Harry blew him a mocking kiss. He caught it.

She rolled her eyes as he slipped the ‘kiss’ into his pocket. “Sap.” He laughed.

Ginny caught up to them breathlessly. “Mum and Hermione are coming back soon.” Harry frowned at her.

“What have you got there, Ginny?”

She stared at Harry in fear and then smiled nervously. “Just a diary Mum bought. Mum said that because the books were free courtesy of Lockhart, she could buy me a welcome to Hogwarts present!”

Harry didn’t bother to read the girl’s soul. It sounded like something Molly Weasley would do and besides, Ginny was always nervous and scared around Harry. The girl had no reason to lie to her anyways.

“That’s nice of her.” She smiled and then moved over to the herbs. Tom was explaining to Ron about which potion ingredients did what.

“At the rate you’re going, Tom, you’ll re-fill that potion kit up faster than a blink.” Harry grinned at him. Tom grinned back and shrugged. 

“I like potions.” She laughed and then smiled prettily at the shop owner who was giving them a hard look. At her smile, he visibly melted and smiled back. He even gave Harry and Tom a candy each.

Tom stared at her as she sucked on her cherry wand. “How the blazes do you do it?!”

She winked at him. “I’m the Girl Who Lived, Tom.” She continued to suck happily on the candy wand. When she saw Ron eyeing it, she snapped it in half and gave him the other half. He grinned at her gratefully.

“You’re the champ, Harry!”

Tom took Harry’s lead on it and broke his blueberry wand and gave the other half to Ginny. She blushed and thanked him quietly. 

_ Crush on me. So she likes me…huh. Perhaps…perhaps I can use that. She’ll be eager to watch over Harriet Potter. I won’t have to tell her much, just that Harry has a weakness of curiosity, and she gets herself tangled up in things. She can report to me every day. After all, she’s going to be in Gryffindor and the girls’ dorm at that. Closer than ever to Harry. _ Tom smiled and then began planning on how he was going to bring it up to the girl.

Meanwhile, Harry was watching Ron berate Hermione for liking Gilderoy. He eventually had to clam up because his mother was giving him the evil eye. 

Looking around, Harry spied Hermione’s parents. “Mione, could I be introduced to your parents? I want to see what nice Muggles are like.” Tom heard and moved over. 

“Me too.” He looked at Hermione expectantly. She faltered, having still not grown used to how Tom infiltrated his way into the trio’s group. She didn’t like him, and it was obvious he didn’t like her. 

_ Why does he want to see my folks?  _ Knowing to refuse Tom would be to hurt Harry, she sighed and led them over to her parents. “Mum, Dad? This is Harriet Potter, the girl I was telling you about this summer. This is her good friend, Tom Riddle. They’re both Halfbloods.” Harry gave a slight curtsy and grinned up at them angelically. They obviously were smitten with her. Tom gave them both a perfect smile that always fooled the adults. Hermione was watching him suspiciously. 

“Harry, Tom, this is my mother, Violet Granger, and my father, Frank Granger. They’re both dentists.” Tom and Harry instantly knew that Hermione came from a wealthy Muggle family then. Anyone who could dress like  _ this _ and were in the medical field was wealthy.

Tom smiled through his jealousy. If the rumors about his ancestor’s chamber were true, then he wouldn’t mind employing the beast to do a little cleaning up, starting with the Gryffindor Tower girl’s dorm.

They chatted a little longer and then moved on after the Weasleys. Harry spied Arthur and Lucius Malfoy glaring at each other. “Uh oh. Wouldn’t it be interesting if they got into a Muggle fistfight?” Tom snorted.

“A Malfoy in a fistfight? Yeah right, Arthur would kill him.” They jumped in shock when Arthur gave a flying punch straight to Malfoy’s jaw. Molly screamed. Draco was gaping in shock. The twins, Ron, and Ginny were cheering. Tom stared at Harry in stunned silence. Harry giggled.

“Look at his hair!” Tom snickered behind a hand and then looked at Draco with a little shrug. 

Draco moved over to them, still stunned. “I’ve never seen my father…like this.”

“Adults.” Harry shrugged lazily. “What can you do with them? You can’t take them anywhere.” She giggled slightly when Lucius punched Arthur. 

“LUCIUS MALFOY!”

“ARTHUR WEASLEY!”

Both men jumped when they heard their wives scream their names. Harry started laughing at the guilty looks on their faces. Hagrid came over and dragged them both up and onto their feet. Lucius gave one more parting shot at Arthur and then stormed away, dragging a hapless Draco with him. Narcissa Malfoy was obviously seething. 

Tom supported Harry as she continued to laugh like a loon. “Harry?”

“I had no idea that Draco’s father was a henpecked husband!” Her green eyes danced with mischief and delight. Tom caught her attitude and grinned back.

They continued their shopping until all that was left was Ginny’s wand. Then they returned to the Borough. Tom had flooed to Draco’s to do some research in Draco’s family library

Harry pulled Ron aside and asked him to cover for her. “I’m just gonna go out and experiment with a new something I got for Necromancy.” He nodded somberly. 

“Be careful, Harry.” She hugged him tightly.

“Don’t worry. I will.” Harry flashed him a grin and ran off. Death appeared beside her in the tall grass. 

“I have never taught you much about bone daggers because I did not think you would be able to find one.” Death looked around them and deemed it safe. “Bone daggers, if used against a living human will turn them to instant spirits. Their bodies will decay before your eyes, turning into a skeleton, and then, when the skeleton is turning to dust, their souls will be released into the Underworld. These are very dangerous blades. This type of death is fast and silent and immediate. A perfect assassin’s tool, and can be even used against other Necromancers; however, I have to tell you that you would not be able to kill Grindelwald.” He gave her a look. 

Groaning, Harry slumped. “Because he’s also a Master of Death.” 

“Exactly. This dagger works just like any other blade, so I’ll have to teach you how to use daggers in combat and how to throw a blade.”

Harry nodded seriously and then vanished the blade. “I’ll buy a set when I go back to Muggle London, maybe on the same trip with Tom.”

Frowning, Death pursed his pale lips. “I do not like this idea of you going to Morfin’s cottage. He is insane. Something might happen.”

Tilting her head, Harry bit her own lip and then smiled. “I’ll be careful, besides, I’ll have Tom there.” Death stiffened and then vanished. 

That told Harry that someone was coming. Turning to face the person, Harry cocked her head when Tom and Ron came into view. 

Ron looked slightly exasperated. “Told you she was fine. She just wanted to be alone for a bit, Tom.”

Ignoring Ron, Tom smiled and took her hand gently. “Come on, lunch is almost ready. What were you doing out here?”

“Just practicing magic, far enough away to have solitude and close enough for the tracker to still think it’s the adults.” She grinned and then shrugged. “I was still having trouble with wandless magic because unlike you, I’m not a genius, just really powerful.” She looked at Ron. “Do you think I’ll have any chance in hell to become better in chess, Ron?”

Smiling slightly, Ron snorted. “You just don’t care enough, Harry. You have the worse carelessness about your men. It’s like you can’t understand the concept of self-preservation at all.”

Rolling her eyes, Harry shoved him and then walked primly alongside Tom. Tom was valiantly holding back his snickers.


	3. Visiting Places

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry goes with Tom to meet his family. This will definitely go well.  
> Also, Ron goes to hell.

~one week later~

Harry looked around. “So this is Little Hangleton? Quaint.” Tom looked at the paper. 

“They live in shack apparently.” He huffed and walked down the road carefully, with Harriet at his side. 

When they got to the shack, Harry shivered. “Creepy.” They stared at the dead snake nailed to the door. Nagini hissed and dove under Tom’s clothes. 

“Um…doesn’t look like anyone’s home. Let’s come back never.” She tried to move but Tom grabbed her shirttails and pulled her back. 

“Uh uh. We’re doing this now. Though, you have a point. It is creepy.” He swallowed and forged ahead, pounding his fist on the door. 

The door creaked open. A really ugly, unkempt man answered it. He hissed at them. Harry stepped back, but Tom started hissing back. She slowly entered the hut with Tom, keeping her back to the wall and her hand on her wand at all times. She made sure no one was between her and the door.

Suddenly, so suddenly that Harry didn’t even see it, Morfin grabbed a knife and lunged at her.

Tom whipped out his wand and sent him spiraling across the small hut. Harry stared at him. “What did you do?!”

“I just said that you went to Hogwarts with me, and you were in Gryffindor!” Tom stared evenly at the angry Morfin. Harry felt like shaking Tom.

“So you told the obviously unhinged  _ Slytherin _ that I am from Gryffindor? Well done, Tom!” She didn’t see the spell in time and screamed when she was suddenly hit with the Cruciatus Curse. Tom shouted something that Harry didn’t hear and suddenly the pain stopped. Tom was at her side immediately.

He was saying something. Apologies it sounded like to Harry. She coughed hoarsely and tried to sit up. Her entire body was aching and throbbing with pain. “I-I’m fine, Tom. You didn’t know he would do that. What did you do to make him stop?”

“He’s unconscious. I had to disarm him.” Tom stepped forward, pulled off his uncle’s ring and then helped her stand. “This is all I came for really anyways. Let’s get out of here.” He glared at the man who was his uncle and helped Harriet exit the hut. If Harry hadn’t been there with him, then he would have killed his uncle.

“Where to next?” Harry slumped against the well on the Gaunt property. Tom frowned and look up the hill. She could Death’s rage behind her. He didn't take well to people hurting his apprentice.

“I was wanting to go to the Riddle Manor, but I think you should stay in the village. I…I think you should rest.”

Tom looked at her with so much guilt and concern that Harry smiled at him tiredly and gave in. “Fine. I’ll be waiting at the train station.”

With a ginger hug, Tom left her at the station and hurried to the manor. He knocked and waited. The butler let him in and told him to wait in the parlor. 

“What name shall I give?”

Tom gave him a look. “Tom Marvolo Riddle.” The butler looked shocked but covered his expression admirably. 

“Certainly. Just one moment.”

Tom smiled slightly and hoped that his father would be happy to see him.  _ Perhaps he didn’t know I existed? _

The door to the dining room flew open. A man who looked like an older version of himself rushed out. “So…her spawn lived? I was half hoping that you died along with her in the gutters where your monstrous kind belong!”

Tom’s eyes widened, and he couldn’t help but step back. “You knew I-”

“Of course I knew! I left you in the orphanages and foster system, good riddance! You should have figured it out and realized you aren’t welcome!” Two older people came out.

“Thomas, send the devil child away and come back to dinner.”

Tom breathed harshly. “I was beaten in that orphanage! You can’t honestly say you-”

Tom Riddle Sr stared at him angrily. “You’re mother used a love potion on me, you brat. I would never have fallen in love with her, would never have had  _ you _ , and never would have become involved in a world full of magic and monsters! Get out of my house!”

“Tom!” Harry hurried in past the butler. “Tom! You won’t believe it, but there’s a carnival…” She trailed off and smiled at them prettily. “I’m Harriet Potter. It’s a pleasure to meet Tom’s father.” She curtsied.

“Are you one of them too?” Tom Riddle Sr stared at Harry as if not quite knowing what to do with the pretty little girl in his foyer. 

“A witch? Yes. I am.”

“Harry, go. Quickly. We’re leaving.”

Harry frowned and looked at the man and his parents. “Wait, what? But what about your-”

“They’re not my family. He’s not my father.” Tom snarled at his father. “He’s a stupid Muggle, nothing more.”

Tom didn’t see his father reach forward to strike him, but Harry did, and she stepped forward to stop the man. However, she got struck instead. The angle of the blow was such that the man’s ring cut into her face deeply.

Her pained cry caused Tom to turn around. Her blood caused him to see red. He pulled out his wand fast.

The front door exploded. The grandparents screamed. A piece of debris hit Harry, and she went down. Tom screamed her name. His distraction caused him to lose the wand that he had taken from his uncle. The man had moved faster than a snake and had snatched it from him after smashing open the door.

Tom ducked for cover, barely missing the killing curse as it skimmed his back. It hit his father instead. The man’s parents went down too because they apparently irritated Morfin with their screaming. Tom was staring in horror as his remaining family was killed by his probably legally insane uncle. 

When Morfin advanced on Harry’s prone form, Tom raised his own wand but never got to cast the killing spell. 

Aurors were pouring into the room.

Tom stared at them in confusion as they fixed the doorway, provided more realistic wounds for the three corpses, and subdued Morfin Gaunt.

He refused to leave Harriet’s side. The lead Auror questioned him while Harry was being treated.

Tom gave them the condensed version. He had tracked his family down. Morfin was his estranged uncle who had followed him to the Riddle Manor. The curse that hit Tom Sr had been meant for Tom the younger. The grandparents were killed because they hadn’t stopped screaming.

“Why was he after you in the first place?”

“I stole the family ring. He was nuts. I saw the records. He didn’t deserve it.” Tom lifted his hand numbly. “I thought he would be knocked out for longer than that.”

“Knocked out? You knocked him out to steal the ring?”

“No. He attacked Harriet Potter because I accidentally let slip that she's Gryffindor. I knew he was inbred and barmy, but I didn’t know he was homicidal…” His voice was monotone. It was a clear sign of shock to the Aurors. 

The man nodded sadly. “I see. I’ll escort you two back to where you are living. Can you tell me the address?”

“The Borough, it’s where Arthur Weasley lives.” Harry shifted and Tom was at her side instantly. “Harry, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry!” 

“What hit me?” She touched her head and winced.

“Piece of wood from the front door.”

“Well shit. And your uncle?”

“Arrested. The Aurors apparently had him on watch because he nearly killed four Muggles or something last month. Because his wand started shooting off spells, they came in fast. Good thing too.”

“And the Riddles?”

Tom looked at the now covered bodies. “Dead. He got them.”

Harry struggled to sit up. Her eyes widened. “Oh Tom…” She looked at him with tears in her eyes. 

Shrugging, Tom snorted. “I didn’t know him, and besides he was the one who struck you for being a witch.” Tom gave the covered body a dark look. Harry sighed and then snuggled against him. 

One of the Aurors cleared his throat. “Tom Riddle, could you please sign this? It’s a magically forged document to trick the Muggle police. You were adopted by Tom Riddle Sr just this month after he finally found you again. That way, you can inherit the Riddle fortune and the lands legally.”

Tom quickly signed his name. “Am I in control now?”

“Not quite. We’re looking for the will of your father’s to change, just to make things tidy.” Tom smiled at him tiredly. 

“Thank you. Why are you doing this?”

“If an orphan could inherit his own fortune, then the Ministry doesn’t have to give you the funding anymore. It’s simple greed.” The Auror smirked and then went off to finish his job.

Harry sighed and closed her eyes. “Hell, I don’t think I’m up to visiting my home after this.”

“Harry, I’m so sorry-”

“Enough. I wanted to come along. You saved me from the actions of others. You didn’t make them do it.” She smiled at him sweetly and kissed his cheek. “My Slytherin Hero.” 

Tom stared at her in awe before blinking rapidly and kissed her cheek too. Harry blushed. They cuddled with a blanket spelled to exude calm for victims who were under shock while the Aurors finished their work and then escorted them to the Borough. 

After making sure Harry was sleeping comfortably, Tom explained everything that had happened to the very curious family. 

It also came out that he knew how to apparate. (Tom had kept Harry out of that for her privacy.) The family was exceedingly sorry for Tom but also impressed with his natural talent for magic. 

When it became clear that Tom wasn’t feeling any grief, because he simply did not know the people who died, the Weasleys became casual once more.

~Sept 1, 1992~

Tom and Harry watched the family scramble around in bemusement. Tom had made sure Harry had packed the night before and had done so himself. 

Munching on a bagel, Harry grinned as Arthur Weasley shoved everything into the expanding trunk. Tom snorted. “I love magic.” He whispered to her. Harry snickered. 

Ginny gave a yelp and raced back into the house for something. She came out with the diary her mother gave her held tightly in her grasp. 

Humming under her breath, Harry looked out the window and then turned to look out the window. Tom watched her watch joggers running as the car zipped past them. 

Leaning closer, he whispered, “Sorry about not getting to see your parents graves.”

She shrugged. “They won't be leaving there any time soon. I'll see their resting place eventually.” Her eyes glimmered with not so hidden mischief.

Chuckling, Tom had to shake his head. “Your humor will get you into trouble someday Harriet Potter.”

She winked. “And you'll be there to get me into more, won't you?”

“Count on it.” They laughed and then turned back to the rest of the group. Mrs. Weasley was lecturing about something or other at Ron.

“Honestly, Ron, I can't see why doing your homework on time is so hard for you! You had  _ all summer _ to get it done! Thomas was able to! Even your brothers were able too!”

Ron flushed bright and grumbled. 

They eventually arrived at the station. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went through with Ginny first, then the twins and Percy. Tom went through. Ron- who had been helping Harry with the cart- grabbed his and proceeded to crash into the medium. Harry gaped and rushed forward. She too crashed. 

“Harry, can you get us through?” He stared at her.

_ ‘Don't try. It's warded to report any magic that touches it. The Ministry will know of a Necromancer in the area if you do.’ _

Harry exhaled and repeated Death’s words. 

Ron stared at her and then growled, “Bloody, fucking hell!”

“Wow.” Her eyes widened. 

Flushing, Ron mumbled, “Bill taught me when a garden gnome bit his foot.”

She snickered and nodded. Her eyes widened slightly. " Death, can I take Ron to the Underworld?"

_ ‘I suppose… I will protect his soul and body and mind from destruction.’ _

Harry grinned at a pale Ron. “Wanna see my house?”

“Uh…umm…”

“Come on, Ron. This'll be fun!”

He gulped and then watched as she waved her African wand and opened the veil. She guided him through. 

He was shaking and shivering as he took in the sights. It was like Earth in the winter, except it was underground, filled with dim lighting, and…sooty. Ron gaped at the scenery around him. “What’s that sound?”

“That’s the sound of the damned crying for water and mercy and peace, but they don’t deserve it. They gave no mercy in their life, and they will receive no mercy in their death.” Harriet kicked a rock. “That is balance.”

“I expected everything to be on fire.” Ron’s voice was subdued. Harry shook her head. 

“That’s only part of the Underworld. Over there. That’s where everyone is screaming.” She pointed to a far off point in the grey blackness that glowed with red. “That’s the classic look of media’s hell. No pitchforks though.” She started walking. “Congrats, Ron, this is the first time a living mortal has ever seen the Underworld since the Ancient Greek times.” She threw a grin over her shoulder at him. He swallowed and hurried up to grab her hand. 

“Creepy as fuck!”

Harry laughed and then pointed to a house that was on a small hill. “That’s my home.” Ron looked it over and then hummed in thought. 

It was black with white trimming that looked kinda like ivory. The black looked like a volcanic rock or something. Harry approached the door, and it opened on its own.

Ron frowned. “What? No squeaky hinges? I feel gypped.” Harry laughed, knowing this was Ron’s way of blustering his way through his terror. The entire Underworld was grey, black, dead, and bleak. There was no color except red and white and black and grey and a little orange. 

“Don’t eat the food here. You cannot leave if you do.” Ron nodded and stepped away from the dining table. Harry smirked and then pointed to the fireplace that had white fire in it. “As you can see all the rules of science are wrong in the Underworld. It’s like a mirror, a Looking Glass World so to speak.”

Ron didn’t catch the reference, but he understood the meaning. Ducking his head, he glanced furtively around. “If I catch a look at Death, will I die?”

“Noo…but you might have a scare. He’s a skeleton with flesh hanging off his bones and maggots eating out his eyes.” 

“Oh shut up. You’re going to bruise my ego.” Ron yelped at the smooth baritone voice and turned around, only to see an incredibly handsome, blond, tall, broad-shouldered man. He had blue eyes and a fair face. No beard.

“You’re dressed in a suit.” Ron gulped when he realized that he had just spoken to Death.

Chuckling, the blond man nodded. “Pinstripe, just so I can irritate Charon. I wear them better you see.” he winked and then looked at Harriet. “Your friend’s life force is waning. Quick with the tour and then get to Hogsmeade.”

She nodded fast and then took Ron’s arm. “Death looks like a skeleton in a hood only to those he’s about to collect. However, he  _ can  _ choose to appear as he is now if he wants to. Generally, he goes with the whole skeletal look if he wants to scare the shit out of a person just before they die. It’s only when a person has particularly irritated him when they were alive. For example, he will show his skeletal look when he reaps the souls of my relatives.” 

Ron barked a rough laugh at that. “Tell him to go with the maggots as well. They need to experience a little more terror before they die.”

Smirking darkly, Harry nodded. “I’ll pass that on. Oh! He is also only visible to mortals when someone is about to die, or when he’s in the Underworld with them like you are.”

Ron frowned in thought and then looked at his friend. “Do House Elves and Goblins and such have souls?”

“Yes. They too are also collected.”

“How are they judged?”

Harry rolled her eyes. “That’s not my job, Ron. Death just is in charge of finding escaped souls, controlling the inferi population, and collecting the dead. He doesn’t care one hoot how they’re judged, whether it’s by eyesight or actions or religion.”

“Can he make certain notes?”

“Oh yes.” She smiled. “He passes on messages since he and his Grim Reapers are the only ones who can go to the world of the living; they also know how the others have lived.”

“But then how can those people judge them?” He frowned in utter confusion. 

Harriet opened the door to her bedroom. “This is where I escape the Dursleys. I also practice magic here, do homework, and sleep.” She sat on her bed and looked up at Ron seriously. “Human beings and Magical beings all have souls. In a soul, there are the Memories, Thoughts, Emotions, Magical Core, and Second Name. The Second Name is the essence of the being. When the soul is collected, the judges literally review the soul. They read it completely and then act on what they see, hear, and learn.”

“Blimey!”

“Yeah.” She grinned at him and then stood up. “Alright. Time to get you out of here before you join the throng.” Offering her arm, Harry opened the veil and then guided him through it.

They stepped onto the road leading to the village of Hogsmeade. Ron inhale and fell over onto his hands and knees. It felt like he hadn’t had a breath of oxygen for an hour. His eyes watered. 

Harry frowned and crouched beside him, rubbing his back. “When we were down there, you weren't breathing. There is no oxygen in the Underworld. I do not fear death because I cannot stay dead. I died the second I return to the Underworld. I am reborn the second I step into the world of the living. That is why I am not human, Ron. Humans can’t come back from the dead. No one who becomes a Master of Death is human.”

He stared at her, still breathing deeply. The spots in his vision slowly faded. He could see and breathe easily now. “Shit. That’s heavy.” She laughed quietly. 

“Yeah. That’s also why Death wants me to join him when my tasks in this world are over. Once the last of my friends die, he wants me to join him and take up some job like his, maybe overseeing the Grim Reapers or something. That’s what our argument was about. I simply want to give up my title and die. He wants me to live on at his side.”

“You sure the bloke isn’t into you?” Ron looked ill just thinking about it. She snorted and shook her head.

“I’m sure. He’s like a very protective Uncle or a second godfather or father or something.”

“Huh. Funny.” Ron stumbled to his feet and then looked around. He noticed that all their things were with them. “You think we should send a post to tell everyone we’re alright?”

Harry blinked at him, and then her eyes widened. “Hell, you’re right!” They moved to Hedwig’s cage. Ron blinked. 

“Hold on! How can Hedwig still be alive?!”

“Easy, Death’s magic protects her. She cannot die. Her life force is connected to my own. As long as I am alive, then so is she.”

“What if you die for a bit, like when you go underground?” Ron put his hands on his hips. Harry snorted and continued writing a letter to Mrs. Weasley about the situation. She included how Tom taught her how to apparate and so she and Ron apparated to Hogsmeade, and they were fine, no splinching occurred.

“It’s a one-way connection. If I am currently dead when Hed dies, then Hed will stay dead, but if I die, then she will still live on.”

“Huh. Care to do that for me?” He grinned at her winningly. Harry laughed and tied the message around Hedwig’s foot. 

“No can do, Ron. You’ve got a soul. To do that would be messy, a lot of paperwork, and not worth it. I’ll just make sure you stay alive on my own power.” She smiled at him softly. “You won’t be dying on me anytime soon, Ron, no matter what.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your kudos and for your comments!   
> Comments are the food for writers, and we appreciate it muchly!  
> Ink...


	4. Snake Politics and Blond Teachers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone has stolen Harry's cloak. Oh dear...

Ron felt a tension he hadn’t known he’d had slip away softly at her words. Straightening, he huffed and pretended the emotional shit hadn’t happened as Hedwig flew away. “It’s my job to take care of you, Harriet. Not the other way around.” He puffed up in a perfect impersonation of Percy. Harry giggled and then looked towards the lake. 

“Can we get a boat and just go to Hogwarts on our own?”

Shrugging, Ron frowned slightly and then grinned brightly. “Hagrid!” Turning, she saw the lovable half-giant and grinned.

“HAGRID!” They grabbed their stuff and hurried (tried to at least) towards him. He gaped and then hurried over.

“Here now! What’s this?! How’d yeh two get here before the train?!”

Harry let Ron explain everything. “I tried to go through the median like always, but it didn’t work. I crashed into it like it was stone! So, Harry and I apparated here!” He remembered what Harry had written and repeated it. “Tom taught her how to apparate a while back and so she took me and her to Hogsmeade!” He grinned at the gaping half-giant.

“Did yeh now?!” He looked at Harry, who blushed convincingly and nodded. “Well, I’ll be…Well, I’d better get yer two ta Dumbledore right away. Have you told yeh parents yeh safe?”

“Just sent off a letter.” Ron grinned at Harry. “Hedwig’s on the way.”

“Better get Dumbledore ta send help. Those poor parents are probably still trapped on the platform! If yeh couldn’t get in, then it stands ta reason that they couldn’t get out.”

Harry and Ron stared at each other in shock. They hadn’t even thought about that!

“Yeah, that might be a problem,” Harry mumbled while Ron snickered as he imagined his mum’s face at the idea of being stuck with the Malfoys and any other pureblood parents who might have been on the platform at the time.

They quickly jumped into a carriage and flew over to the castle. Harry looked over and looked at the Whomping Willow that Sirius told her about. It had a passageway through it. She grinned as she thought about all the passages and secrets of the castle that he told her about.

_ I need to find that map soon. It’ll most likely be somewhere in the castle. _ She settled into her seat and played thumb wars with Ron the rest of the way.

“Flying is so cool. I wish we could have flown Dad’s car here!” Ron looked at Hagrid, but the man didn’t seem to have heard him. Harry snorted. 

“With our luck, we would have crashed into a mountain.”

“Yeah, guess you’re right.” He grinned. “Still woulda been cool though.”

Laughing, Harry shook her head. “You’re a nut!”

They climbed out of the carriage and walked up the path through the gate and then up through the front doors. McGonagall opened it and blinked at them in surprise.

“Weasley? Potter? What are you two doing here?”

Hagrid quickly explained what happened.

“Good heavens! I’ll tell Albus straightaway. Thank you Hagrid. I’ll take the children to their rooms so they can get settled in.” She ushered Harry and Ron into the castle. They waved goodbye to Hagrid and then hurried after their Head of House. McGonagall walked swiftly to the tower while summoning a Patronus and stating her message efficiently, not faltering in her walk at all.

Harry leaned over to Ron. “I love her. She’s awesome.”

“She’s scary is what you mean.” Ron huffed softly.

~meanwhile~

Tom gritted his teeth as he came back from his fifth trip up and down the train. Hermione met him in the middle. 

“Nothing?”

“Not a thing. Ron and Harry aren’t here!” Hermione bit her lip and looked around. They were standing in front of the upper-year Slytherins’ car. Seventh Year Marcus Flint looked at him sneeringly. 

“Lost your pet Halfblood, have you, Mudbloods?”

Tom glanced at him disdainfully. “Mudblood? I’m a Halfblood. Got the blood test.” He grinned darkly and showed it to the others. 

Marcus grabbed it and read it. His eyes widened in shock. “You’re a liar! You can’t be Slytherin’s Heir!” Tom lifted his hand lazily. Everyone stared at the Slytherin signet ring in shock.

Chuckling, he took his blood test back and walked away with Hermione. “As I was saying, Harry is still probably back at the station.” He paused as a thought came to him. “Unless she’s apparated.”

“That’s impossible, Tom.” Hermione looked at him. “Harry can’t- oh…she can.” Hermione looked at him in surprise. “She can do side-along apparation too?”

He nodded. “They’re probably already at the school, lucky bastards.” He kicked a Hufflepuff’s feet roughly to get them to move out of the way of the aisle. The Hufflepuff gulped when they saw Tom and closed the car door sharply. 

Hermione looked at him. “He reacted in fear to you, Tom.”

“Smart kid.” Tom walked ahead and entered the car to change before her. 

Hurrying after the slightly dangerous Slytherin, Hermione spoke up. “What if Harry  _ isn’t _ at the school when we arrive?”

Tom looked at her darkly. “Then I will hunt her down and kill her for giving me a heart attack. After I resuscitate her, I will handcuff her to me so she’ll never do it again.” The door to their car opened, and Draco entered. He gave Neville and Hermione a sneering look before speaking up. 

“Four hours until we get there, Tom. Also, news about your ancestry has spread.” Draco grinned. “All of the younger years and nearly all the fourth years are on your side now. Also, the older years are bowing out. They don’t care anymore and won’t fight your ascension.”

Tom nodded slowly and then stood. “Then it’s time I made an appearance.” He walked out of the car without a single glance at the others. Hermione huffed.

“Honestly! Slytherins!”

Neville nodded somberly.

Four hours later, Hermione glanced around, hoping she could find Harry and Ron at the station. They weren’t there. Biting her lip, she climbed into the carriage with Neville, Ginny, and the others. 

As soon as she entered the castle, she heard Harry’s voice. “HERMIONE! TOM!”

Both students looked up and saw Harry waving at them and then running towards them. “Hi! Harry, I’m so glad that you’re safe!”

“What happened? Why couldn’t you get onto the train?”

“Well, first the median getting onto the platform was blocked. Dumbledore still doesn’t know how it happened, why, or who did it.”

Ron popped up suddenly and gave them a cheeky grin. “After we realized that we couldn’t get through, we obviously missed the train. So, Harry apparated us to Hogsmeade, where we ran into Hagrid, who took us to the castle. We’ve been chilling in the Common Room eating donuts from the kitchens.”

Hermione gave him a dirty look. Harry studied Tom closely. “Good news?”

“What?”

“You look happy.” She gave him a half-smile. “The kind of ‘world domineering’ happy that you usually get when something goes your way in the snake house.”

Ron snickered and then moved off to greet his roommates and brag about not needing to take the train.

Tom stared at Harry and then snorted as they moved towards the Great Hall. “As a matter of fact, yes. Word has gotten around of my being the Heir. The older students aren’t contesting my control half as much as they were before. Flint is losing power quickly. I’ll be in complete control of my house by the time I’m in third year.” He smiled in a self-satisfied way.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Oh honestly, why are you two so focused on taking control of that house?! It’s just a bunch of students! And the prefects have the real power.”

Giving her a disdainful look that he tried to quell when Harry glanced at him, Tom spoke up lazily. “That just shows how spectacularly ignorant you are.” He sniffed slightly. “Taking control of the house  _ now _ cements the loyalty of the students even after graduation.”

Harry nodded somberly and looked at Hermione, speaking gently. “Tom will have influence over them even after they leave. It’s how the Slytherins work. Alliances and deals and agreements. Mutually beneficial arrangements are their modus operandi.”

Staring at them in shock, Hermione opened her mouth in incredulity. “But what about the prefects?!”

Chuckling, Tom shook his head. “Second in commands. Once I’m in charge, I tell them what to do. They obey me. Usually, the leader of the house will be a prefect. That’s what I’m planning on becoming. That and Head Boy.”

“What would you do with all that influence after graduation? Get a good job?” Hermione looked skeptical. 

Glancing around, Harry motioned to Tom. “I’ll explain. We’d better get to our tables.” He nodded and parted ways. She looked at Hermione as Ron joined them at the table. He listened as Harry explained further. “Hermione, Draco will be the Lord of Malfoy Manor. That means he will be in control of the entire estate, including the house seat. You understand what the Wizengamot is, right?”

She looked confused. “Ye-es? I haven’t done much research in Wizard politics.” She looked kinda shocked that there was a gap in her education. “I’ll get up to the library tomorrow and research it.” She also made a mental note to research House Elves too. She didn’t know much about them, but she had seen them in the school kitchen last year.

Shaking her head in consternation at her friend, Harry continued. “Tom is of the Gaunts, but that family doesn’t have a strong seat of power on the Wizard Council because they became recluses a long time ago. Therefore, he relies on the influence of others. The Malfoys have a very powerful seat. So too, do the Blacks, the Dumbledores, and the Zabini’s.”

Ron spoke up. “Also the Potters, but Dumbledore has control of that seat right now.”

Hermione frowned. “Why?!”

“Because he’s my magical guardian. He has control until I come of age.” Hermione blinked and then nodded.

“So, Tom makes the alliances now, and then calls on the debts later? But what could he have that they would want to make a deal with?” Hermione looked at the boy across the room. “No offense, but he’s not all that spectacular.” She sniffed imperiously.

Harry shot Ron a knowing smirk. He smirked back. The rivalry between those two was a bit amusing, but most of the time it was annoying and worrying. Harry didn’t know who was going to make the first strike, but whoever did it, it was going to be violent. She and Ron had to stay alert so they could break them up.

“He’s powerful. Slytherins respect power, Hermione. He may not have political influence or a seat on the council, but he’s got smarts, power, cunning, and a drive to win. It’s like a painter having a patron. Tom has the talent, and the other purebloods have the means.”

Ron cleared his throat. “So, to answer your question, Tom would use Draco’s influence to get a position in the Ministry, work hard to get to the top and then provide Draco something that would help his family name and give him more power. It’s a long term game of real life chess.”

“Why don’t the other houses do it?” Hermione snorted. “Nevermind. Just realized the answer to my own question. Slytherins are primarily made up of purebloods. The other houses are ‘tainted’ by the cultures of the Muggles.”

Harry nodded. “Purebloods are the traditional wizards. They were here first before anyone else. They still continue traditions that other families like the Weasleys, have long since abandoned. It’s sorta like two worlds forced to co-exist. That’s why everything’s so rocky between Houses. It’s a constant bi-cultural war.”

Nodding in understanding, Hermione looked around the room with new eyes almost. She saw students who would one day become leaders of powerful families. “So, my friendship with Tom could be my shoe in for a high position in the Ministry?”

“Get Tom to be indebted to you, and he won’t be able to refuse your help.” Harry grinned grimly. “He’s a Slytherin, expect backstabbing. That’s another way of life in the Pureblood society. Blackmail, manipulation, and deal breaking if a better one comes along. That’s why Tom is constantly on the lookout for rivals who would weaken his control or rising power. New students entering his house would possibly take a pot shot at him. It’s a good thing that Snape doesn’t have a child.”

Ron gagged. “Besides the obvious point of how disgustingly against nature that would be.” Giving him an exasperated but highly amused look, Harry shook her head.

“Besides that, Snape, being the Head of House, would have a child who would be in the perfect position to challenge Tom. Purebloods work on an ‘inheritance’ hierarchy. Tom’s practically getting leadership of the Snake House on a silver platter because he is the direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. He is the Heir and everyone knows it. It would be suicide and an unhealthy gamble to go against him now.” She nodded to Marcus Flint. “And he knows it. He’s in a hard position.”

Hermione pursed her lips. “Giving up his power would make him weak, but fighting the inevitable would be foolhardy.”

“Exactly.” Harry looked over at Dumbledore. The first years had arrived. Ron leaned forward eagerly for his little sister’s sorting.

Harry started when Death was suddenly beside her.

“Your snake friend is watching you.”

_ ‘I know.’ _ She fiddled with a fork as she continued to mentally talk to Death.  _ ‘He’s becoming obsessed with me. Did you find anything about Dobby’s visit?’ _

“Besides me wanting to beat him for causing you a whipping, nothing. All I know is that Riddle is in the thick of it.” She hummed in thought and then looked over at Dumbledore as he gave his speech. 

When the food arrived, she dug in.

When Harry and Ron entered their house, all the upper years and their year stared at them. 

George stood up. “Is it true that you apparated to Hogsmeade?!”

Looking at Ron, Harry grinned and nodded. “It’s true. I’m planning on teaching Ron. Tom taught me. He figured it out by himself from the books in the library.”

“Well, that’s no surprise.” Fred snorted. He looked at Ron. “So how’d it feel to apparate?”

“Like I was being squeezed through a tube.” Everyone made a face at that.

Lee Jordan grunted. “Not looking forward to  _ those  _ classes.”

~the next morning~

Harry looked at the letter that Ron received. He winced. “Mum’s not happy that we apparated instead of waited for a person to help us.” He rolled his eyes. “Says we could have been splinched or something.” Harry snorted.

“At least you didn’t steal the car. That letter would have been a howler.” She smirked at his suddenly pale face. 

Then Ron gave a faint laugh. “Still woulda been terrific.”

Hermione groaned. “Oh Ron, you’re incorrigible!”

“Whas that?”

“It means you’re uncontrollable in your stupidity.” Tom’s voice drawled. They turned around and watched him rest his arms on Harry’s shoulders. “Watch out, Harry. Lockness Monster is after you. Your popularity is just what he needs to boost his own and claim you as his prodigy.” He rolled his eyes and then gave her a swift sibling-like kiss on the cheek before leaving and going off to his morning classes. Draco and the rest of Tom’s group passed them silently.

“He’s telling the truth. That odious man is coming right towards you.” Death grinned at her looking somewhere over her shoulder.

Harry cursed and did the only thing she could think of. She dove under the table and crawled away. Hermione was spluttering while everyone else was laughing. When she came out from the other end, she saw black boots and looked up into the unimpressed face of Professor Snape.

“I know crawling and scraping are what you should be doing, but it would be best if you did it not in the Great Hall, Miss Potter.” She straightened and then smiled at him softly. 

“Very well, Professor.” She grinned at him for a split second. “Professor Lockhart!” She waved the man over. “Professor Snape was just mentioning how he was having trouble with that new Werewolf Suppressant. It is a very tricky one, isn’t it?” She slipped away just as Lockhart began to explain to a shocked and enraged Snape how he had been the one who helped create it, and he would be glad to give Snape a few pointers here and there. 

Harry gave him a very fast, barely there grin of delight that her mother often gave her when talking about her escapades with Severus when they had been children. The look of anger on Snape’s face flickered to shock for a second, before he became completely expressionless once again. Harry had already skipped away to get to her first class. She half hoped that Snape would kill Lockhart. He’d probably get the Purple Heart for it. She cackled quietly.

However, she got her own back when Snape told Lockhart her entire schedule of classes for that day. Lockhart found her after ‘helping’ Sprout bandage up the Whomping Willow. Some students had the bright idea of chopping it down with a spell. Needless to say, it didn’t like that. The students were in the hospital.

When Lockhart walked away after lecturing her about taking popularity slowly and not do risky magic at such a young age, Harry had already planned five different ways of killing him and hiding the body, and ten different ways of making sure there wasn’t a body left.

Sprout was quivering with rage and indignation at the arrogant man. She started explaining what they would do today. When everyone broke up in groups to work on the Mandrakes, Harry and her two friends were joined by a Hufflepuff boy.

“Justin Finch-Fletchley.” He shook Harry’s hand vigorously. “Know who you are, of course, the famous Harry Potter. And you’re Hermione Granger- always on top of everything.” Harry blinked and then imagined what Tom’s face would be if he heard that. Probably would have hexed the kid.

All conversation drained away as they put on their earmuffs and dealt with the screaming Mandrakes. Harry didn’t know quite how to deal with caring for obviously living creatures that would be cut up eventually for potions. She didn’t like it. It seemed such a waste.

In Transfigurations, Harry cheated by wrapping her scuttling beetle with shadows, holding it still, and then changing it. Hermione gave her a sharp look and then grudgingly asked for her to do the same.

She smirked and did it. Ron accidentally squashed his bug with his elbow, and Professor McGonagall was not pleased.

They were walking down the stairs and hallways for lunch when Ron shouted and pushed Harry downwards. They fell the rest of the way down the stairs and onto the bottom floor right at the entrance of the Great Hall was. She heard Tom shout her name. Well, to be honest, everyone was shouting her name. 

Struggling to get up, she cast her eyes around. Death was right there. Looming. “Whoever did it was hidden from my sight.”

_ ‘But the cloak is the only thing-’ _

“Do you still have it?”

She froze and then caught herself staring at him when no one else could. Ron helped her stand up. Madam Pomfrey hurried over and examined her. Harry let her without a fuss. Dumbledore spoke over the hushed whispers.

“I think we would all like to know what happened, Mr. Weasley.”

Ron was shaken. “It was that heavy lantern, Sir! Dropped right where Harry was standing. She stopped suddenly, and I saw it coming down.” He swallowed. “I pushed her and lost my balance. We both went down the stairs.” He winced slightly as he suddenly realized something sharp was poking him. 

A girl screamed, several people did actually, when he lifted his shirt and saw half of his wand  _ sticking out from his side _ . Blood had drenched his entire left trouser leg.

Madam Pomfrey swiftly descended on him. Harry stared at the woman as she unleashed a series of spells and slowly drew out the sparking wand from an understandably ill-looking Ron Weasley.

“Oh Ron! I’m so sorry!”

When Pomfrey was done, Ron was forced to lay down on a stretcher she had conjured. He chuckled faintly at her. “It’s fine, Harry. Not like you did that on purpose, you know.”

Pomfrey quickly carted the boy away to her wing, preventing Harry or Hermione to visit until visiting hours were open.

Harry felt Hermione wrap her arms around her tightly. “He’s going to be alright, Harry.”

Tom stood silently beside his friend, staring at her. Ron’s words sparked his memories.

_ ‘…I’m living on borrowed time after all. I should have died at one year old, but I didn’t, Tom. Instead, I’ve gotten ten years extra…’ _

‘… _ Death is natural. It shouldn’t be avoided, Tom…’ _

_ ‘…Living can be tedious, Tom…’ _

‘… _ Sometimes I envy the dead. It’s so peaceful…’ _

The idea that Harry didn’t only revere death but…desire it? Could it be? Ron said she stopped suddenly at that spot… Tom shook his head. It was stupid to think that. Harry didn’t want to die. That was ridiculous.

He put the thought out of his mind immediately. 

Or tried to at least.

Sometime later, Harry, Hermione, and Tom went to visit Ron after lunch. He wasn’t able to go to DADA, but that wasn’t something he was aggrieved about.

“You’re a lucky git actually,” Tom muttered darkly. “Listening to that ponce without blowing up and hexing him will be a trial.”

Hermione puffed up in indignation. Harry quickly changed the subject. “Found your other half of the wand Ron. Seeing as it’s my fault for it breaking in the first place, why don’t I buy you a new one? Alright? Please? I’ve already written to Ollivander. The same measurements, core, everything you’re used to.” She tried for a smile, but it wasn’t reaching her eyes. Ron grabbed her hand and smiled. 

“Fine, but it wasn’t your fault, Harry.”

“Whoever dropped that lantern was doing it at me. That means I was the target. You not only got injured because of me, but your wand snapped. It’s my fault.” She hugged him gingerly and then stepped back for Hermione to gush over him and fuss in her own way. Which meant, she was lecturing him about performing safer heroics.

Tom scowled in thought.  _ I'll have to get Ginny onto Harry Security Detail earlier than I thought. _

After they spent time with Ron, they hurried off to their defense class. Tom rolled his eyes. “Pansy’s gonna go too far one of these days. She’s tried to flirt with me, can you believe it?”

He missed Hermione going pink. Harry smirked. “Pity she doesn’t realize that you don’t understand anything to do with love and affection.”

“I understand it just enough to be able to manipulate it, but that’s all I need to know. After all, Love is a stupid and faulty emotion. A defect in the makeup of humanity. I have no time for it.” He sneered and then looked up when he sensed danger.


	5. Suicide?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albus confronts, and Gellert makes his move.

Pansy and her posse were approaching, but before they could speak up, another kid approached them.

“Alright Harry? I’m- I’m Colin Creevey.” He spoke in a sort of breathless way. Harry lifted an eyebrow. “I’m in Gryffindor too. D’you think- would it be alright if- can I have a picture with you?”

“A… _ picture _ ?” Harry lifted a single black brow in surprise. “I don’t think-”

He nodded eagerly. “So I can prove that I met you!” He edged further forward, unknowingly pushing Tom away from Harry. The Slytherin looked murderous. “Everyone’s told me. About how you survived when Grindelwald tried to kill you two times! And how you got his mark on your wrist! And a boy in my dorm room said that if I develop the film in the right potion, I can get it to  _ move _ !” He started to gush about how great and wonderful magic and Hogwarts was, and Harry agreed with him, but she couldn’t help but notice how he was drawing a crowd.

Then he stopped her completely by asking her to sign it.

Unfortunately, that was when Pansy decided to take part in the conversation. “ _ Signed photos _ ?! You’re giving out  _ signed photos _ , Potter?” Loudly, she shrieked, “Everyone line up! Harriet Potter’s giving out signed photos!”

Tom snarled and stood up. “No, she isn't, Parkinson! Stop being such a jealous bitch and get over yourself!”

“Yeah, you’re just jealous of her! At least she’s beautiful! You’ve just got a turned-up nose!” Colin piped up. Harry closed her eyes and exhaled. Pansy gaped and then reached for her wand.

“Damn.” Her voice went unnoticed as Tom drew out his wand, but Hermione spoke up.

“Watch out!” Tom put his wand away quickly and was suddenly the picture of perfection. Harry snorted as Lockhart walked up. When Lockhart tried to pull her up against him, Harry pushed away and gave him a look of disgust that he cheerfully ignored. 

Death was grumbling. “A professor shouldn’t try and hold a female student like that. That’s…revolting.”

Frankly, Harry agreed. However, in her distraction, Pansy had taken the opportunity to speak up. Then suddenly, she was posing for a picture. She didn’t sign it, and she slipped away before Lockhart could talk to her.  _ Revolting git! He’s worse than Snape! _

The class was just what Harry imagined it would be. Horribly amusing. She realized that she had two choices. Either hate Lockhart and be miserable or be amused by his stupidity. She chose the latter. It was much more freeing.

Though she still left the test blank.

~the next morning~

Harry was shaken awake by Angelina at the crack of dawn. “What hex would you like me to give you?” She spoke this very calmly after she verified the time.

The older girl barked a laugh. “Give it to Wood. He’s the one who wanted this.”

“Ugh.” She stumbled out and got dressed, glad for once that Death wasn’t aware of this. He would have been laughing at her misery. The git.

By the time she got down to the Common Room with the other girls, Colin was there. Practically vibrating. She raised an amused eyebrow at him when he showed her the photo. She was proud of her photographic self. 

However, her amusement was short-lived as Colin followed her onto the pitch. She sighed and smiled through her irritation just like Dumbledore often did.

She joined the girls in the locker room, changed, and then started taking a nap against the wall beside Alicia. 

While up in the air, she saw Tom and Ron and Hermione. She also saw Tom stop short as he realized the Muggle Born Colin Creevey was sitting in his favored spot. She flew down to speak to them briefly before joining the others again. 

It was then that she heard the strange clicking noise. Turned out to be Colin’s camera. However, that wasn’t the worst of her problems. When Slytherin showed up, she took one look at Draco and then turned to glare hotly at Tom. Stepping lightly forward, she pulled Draco aside. 

“Thought you wanted to be Chaser, Draco.”

“Changed my mind. I’m allowed to do that, aren’t I?” He smirked at her.

Hissing out a breath, she gave him a glare. “Just don’t bungle your job and give me an easy win. I know you’re only doing this to make sure I don’t die in the game. Tom’s not very subtle.”

He chuckled. “Fine, fine, but at least the team got new brooms out of this.” His smirk turned snake-like. “Have fun keeping up.”

Harry tuned back into what the others were saying. Then suddenly her friends were there. Ron took offense to something or other that Flint said to Hermione- Harry hadn’t been listening- and whipped out his broken wand. 

Of course, using a broken wand isn’t advisable and so, he hexed himself. Tom edged away from the disgusting display. Harry sighed and carted him away with Hermione helping her. 

She had slipped away after visiting Hagrid’s. Harry hadn’t realized it, but she barely spent any time on her own anymore. Exhaling, she slipped into a small side door that was barely noticeable. It was just at the entrance to the dungeons. Smiling, Harry moved to the front and sat down at the very front pew. It was a small chapel. 

She thought back on the Catholic school that Petunia had insisted she and Dudley went to. There had been a time that Petunia had made Dudley wear a cross every single day and have holy water whenever he was around Harry, but the time-consuming nature of that habit made him hate it.

She slipped from the pew and knelt in front of the small altar. “Pater Noster, qui es in caelis: sanctificetur Nomen Tuum; fiat voluntas Tua, sicut in caelo, et in terra Panem nostrum quotidianum da Nobis hodie; et dimitte Nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; et ne nos inducas in tentationem; sed Libera nos a Malo. Amen.” She crossed herself slowly and then stood.  _ Though I am not human, I still feel human emotions. I still have the desire to connect myself, to anchor myself to this world in some tangible way. To go to my roots, my childhood haven… _

She smiled softly as she thought of the nun who gave her extra sweet rolls and how she often hid in the chapel to avoid Dudley and his Harry Hunting Gang. Yes, the Christian Faith held good memories for her. Highlights in her otherwise dark life.

Standing, Harry pulled up a candle and lit it, placing it in a holder. Withdrawing, she sat once again on the pew and stared at the fire of the candle. Harry didn’t know how long she sat there, but suddenly, she was joined by Dumbledore.

“I never did thank you, my dear, for what you did.” He didn’t look at her.

“You also never gave me my brooch back.” She smiled slightly and then leaned forward.

“No. I felt the need to share it with my brother. You are a Necromancer if I am not mistaken.” He pulled out her brooch and handed it to her. She looked down and took it.

“You are not mistaken.”

“How did you come by this knowledge?”

Harry looked at the brooch carefully. It wasn’t that she thought it was a fake, she simply didn’t want to make eye contact. “When I was one year old, as you well know, I was attacked by Grindelwald. When Death came to collect the souls of my parents, he caught sight of me and realized that I became a Master of Death. Upon my father’s death, I gained the cloak. Upon Grindelwald’s death, I gained the wand. Upon his body vanishing, I picked up and swallowed the stone with my chubby baby hands.” 

She traced the skeletal hand on the pin. “Death also realized that I descended directly from Ignotus Peverell. He wanted to know the heir to his late friend, and so honored the man’s memory by training his descendant in Death’s magic.” She smiled wider, quietly. “I was two when he introduced himself to me. I was three when he started my training. Five was when I started branching away from theory into more practical. I was six when he took me to the Underworld for the first time in my life. I am more capable than any Necromancer since Merlin and Morgana. Death said so.”

“And…are you still in contact with him?”

“Yes. He’s here now. If you noticed the drop in temperature.” Dumbledore looked up and around sharply. Harry chuckled. “You can only see him when he is about to collect a person’s soul. He can appear to you in a plethora of ways, like a skeleton. Like an old man or like a child, or a young man, or a female. It’s up to him.” She shrugged lazily.

“I trust you will be careful with your powers.”

“I don’t think Azkaban could hold me for any long amount of time, considering the Dementors view me as a friend and a superior.” She looked at him for the first time since he came into the small chapel. Dumbledore looked suitably alarmed.

“I see.”

“Yes.” Harry smiled, showing her teeth. “Why are you here, Professor? Surely it wasn’t to only give me my brooch back and talk about things I’m pretty sure you already knew?”

“I wished to speak to you about your attempt, but I see that it wasn’t that at all.” He smiled.

Harry frowned. “Attempt?”

“There are rumors that you wish to…no longer live, and that lantern was your…first attempt. I did not truly believe these theories, but I wanted to find out for myself.” 

Her green eyes widened. “They think I want to off myself?”

Albus studied her shocked face and then nodded calmly. “Crudely put, but yes. Now that I know you cannot die, I realize that you attempting such a thing would be…futile of you.” He allowed a smile to curl his lips. Harry barked a quiet laugh.

“Suicide. It’s never actually occurred to me. Huh. Who started the rumors?”

“Slytherin. Professor Snape came to me with the rumors and the concern.”

She frowned. “Woulda thought he’d be an assist in my suicide.”

“I can see why you would think that my dear, but you are wrong. In his own…admittedly brusque way, he does care. He simply doesn’t know how to show it.” Albus shook his head and looked up at the altar quietly.

She snorted. “Nor does he want to.”

“Possibly true.” Dumbledore stood up. “Thank you for sharing your abilities with me. My brother and I are grateful. You have mended my…mistakes, and I am in your debt.” Albus Dumbledore stared at her. “Your cloak was found by me just a few hours ago. It is now securely in your trunk. I advise you to keep a better eye on it. Whoever stole it was probably the one who cut that chain holding that lantern.”

Her eyes widened and then she scowled. “He’s on school grounds?!”

“No. I would have sensed him, and I have checked. He has not left Nurmengard.” Dumbledore looked puzzled and worried. “I suspect an accomplice.”

_ The same one from last year?  _ She scowled darker than before. Then she sighed and slumped back into her bench. “Then he still believes that I can die. That’s fortuitous.” Dumbledore nodded and then straightened. 

“I will leave you now, Miss Potter. Have a safe evening.” She responded in kind and then watched him leave. She felt easier now that an adult as powerful as Dumbledore knew. She knew he was a strategist. He would try and use her powers to his best advantage, but she would let it happen. It was a small price to pay- being a pawn- when she knew everything he was planning and thinking. She looked forward to this possible partnership.

Humming in thought, Harry watched the candle burn down to nothing before getting up and walking down the hall back to her room. 

~meanwhile~

Tom edged to the bathroom that he suspected was the location of his place. Nagini was curled tightly around him. 

_ “Master, why are we entering into this room?” _

_ “Because this is possibly where the entrance to the chamber is.” _

_ “But what of the monster?” _

_ “It is either dead or asleep. My money is on it being dead.” _ He scoffed lightly and then searched the bathroom. He noticed the faucets and quirked a smile. “Would it really be that simple?” Turning, he faced the mirror and whispered, “ _ Open to me.” _

The sink was moving even before he finished the first word. Tom jumped and landed on bones. “Lovely.” Quickly cleaning himself off, he took a look around and then entered the second chamber and stared in awe. 

Nagini was not impressed.

_ “Your ancestor was arrogant. These are all of himself!” _

Tom snorted and then walked closer to the largest bust of Salazar Slytherin.  _ “Well, you’re not wrong, Nagini.” _

“Fascinating.” Tom spun around and whipped out his wand, but Grindelwald smiled and spoke first. “Imperio.” Tom internally screamed, even as he felt his control slip away. Freezing the enraged Nagini as well, Grindelwald chuckled and patted Tom’s cheek. “You’re talent and standing will be very useful to me, my dear boy. Salazar Slytherin’s Muggle Born eating monster. Along with my other little helper…” He laughed quietly and looked around the large chamber. “Well, this year will be very trying for poor Harriet.” 

He turned to Tom and slipped a notebook into the boy’s robes, then he pried into the boy’s mind and tampered with his memories. He pushed the boy to write down everything he did and discovered concerning the basilisk and his tasks and Harriet into the notebook, and he also instilled a seed of hatred against Muggle Borns- Hermione Granger, Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and all others who dared to take Harriet’s attention away from her fellow half-bloods. Then he wiped his memories of ever meeting Grindelwald here tonight.

With that done, Grindelwald chuckled and withdrew. It was time for him to return to his lovely abode in Nurmengard.


	6. Diary Entries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harriet Potter needs to die.

~weeks later~

Tom didn’t know how exactly it happened, but he was suddenly thrust into one of Nick’s Death Day parties. Something about Harry putting in a good word.

They were heading over there now when Harry suddenly stopped. “Er, Tom, you and the others don’t have to go and do this with me. It’s bound to be quite nasty and would put you off your tea.” She had that faint glimmer of amusement, the one that Tom loved. It was like she was laughing at the world, thinking up ways to cause anarchy.

“Nope. I’m staying with you.” He shoved his hand into his pocket and frowned when he found a notebook inside one.  _ Now when did this get here? _ He rubbed his thumb along the edge and then pulled his hand out again.  _ No matter. It’s obviously mine. I just forgot one of my notebooks. _ The idea was comforting. That’s all it was. Just a notebook. He must write in it later. Tom blinked and looked up as they entered the party, oblivious to how nervous Ron and Hermione looked. They wandered around a bit, before Ron pulled him aside. 

"Can you please grab Harry? I'm sick of the rotten food and the dead humor."

Snorting, Tom nodded and then shifted Nagini on his shoulders before moving over to Harry. She was in an argument with the Fat Friar about the best way to die. Tom shivered at that. Only Harry would have a conversation like that. "Ron's revolting."

"I already know he's revolting." Harry blinked. "Oh! He's wanting to leave now?"

Shoulders shaking with silent laughter, Tom nodded. "Yeah."

"Fine, fine. Where's Herm- oh there she is." Harry grabbed his wrist and then pulled them free with a careless call to Nick. However, Tom faltered when he thought he heard something. A hissing. 

"Tom?"

"Hurry! I think I hear something-" He froze at the sight before him. The voice vanished from his mind as he heard the rest of the students and teachers leaving the feast. Filch screamed in the background, immediately accusing Harry.  Tom stared at the cat and then at the blood. There was something…something familiar about seeing this again. Again?  _ I’ve never seen this before. Why would I-? _

His hand brushed against the notebook in his pocket and his mind quieted. Deja vu is what they called it. It was fine. He stepped forward and comforted Harry.

~meanwhile~

Ginny threw up again into the toilet. Something was wrong with her. Something was definitely wrong! She was forgetting things. Blacking out.

Shakily, she stood up and looked at herself in the mirror. She was losing weight.  _ Why did I find myself standing over Harry with a knife this morning?!  _ She threw up again.

However, she looked at the notebook.  _ I need to write about my failure- no, what? Failure? I didn’t kill Harry. That’s good! Isn’t it? _ She thought about her anger at Harry Potter for always being in the limelight, for taking the most handsome boys. Her gut clenched. Cleaning herself up, she picked up the book and started to write. She always felt better after she wrote.

~in that instant~

Harry looked away from the writing on the wall. 

_ The Monster is unleashed. The Muggle Borns shall die! _

She glowered at Pansy for her words. “No, you’ll be next, Parkinson, if you think this is the idea of a good prank!”

The girl blanched suddenly before looking cocky again. “Me? I don’t play with blood.”

“No, you just play in the mud and sling it at people.” Hermione smiled at her sweetly. “It’s where you’re most comfortable.”

Pansy sneered. “Mud wouldn’t make you look any different than you do now! It’s already in your blood, Granger.”

“Enough.” Tom stepped forward. Harry frowned at him. His pupils were dilated even in the brightly lit corridor. She did a cursory scan of his soul but found nothing wrong. She frowned deeper but turned away.

The teachers were coming. And of course, Filch turned and glared at her. Harry lifted an eyebrow at him. She didn’t respond at all to his wailing. Dumbledore interrupted and calmed the situation down. He summoned Filch, Harry, Tom, Ron, and Hermione. They followed him to Lockhart’s office. Harry ignored them all as Dumbledore and Lockhart spoke. One was speaking wisely, the other…was just a stupid fool.

She looked at Snape and realized he was staring at her hard. She looked at him before slowly, lazily looking away. She glanced in the corner and saw Death. 

_ ‘Well?’ _

“Nothing. I was avoiding the castle until Nick’s party was over. Ghosts can see me and if they saw us together then they would know that you’re the fabled apprentice. They only know I have one after centuries. They do not know who or where you are. I didn’t want you to become a Ghost Celebrity on top of everything else.”

_ ‘Right. Thanks for that.’ _ She frowned in thought.  _ ‘What’s wrong with Ginny? She’s been looking ill.’ _

“Someone is messing with her core. Her soul is ravaged. I think we need to focus on your training if you missed something that obvious, Harry.”

Harry looked at him sharply before turning to where Dumbledore was. Of course, when Snape started asking questions of why they were coming through that corridor, Harry stopped them from implicating Tom. He didn’t need people to know he was hearing voices. He was going places. She wasn’t. He had a future. She didn’t.

“We were going to bed.”

Tom gave her a sharp look when he realized that she wasn’t going to tell them about him hearing that strange voice. That voice that sounded strangely familiar. He frowned in concern.  _ Am I going insane? _

Snape tried to back them in a corner, but Harry smiled. “We were hungry and we were going to slip through the kitchens on our way to dropping Tom off at the dungeons. You know they’re on the way, Professor.”

Thinking about it, Snape had to admit they were. He scowled and backed off. Harry gave him another faint smile.  _ ‘Death, forget the ghosts. We need to find out who’s behind this. It can’t be Grindelwald. He’s in prison. It has to be either a student or a teacher. Nobody’s new here except the first years.’ _

“It can’t be the eleven year olds. They aren’t powerful enough to do anything like this.”

_ ‘Except me.’ _ She frowned in thought.

Snape’s voice brought her back to the present by saying how he thought she wasn’t being entirely honest and should be taken off the team. McGonagall wasn’t pleased.

Harry let the adults battle it out. She went back to Death.  _ ‘I’ll be suspect. A lot of people want me taken down a few notches. Oh, and apparently the Slytherins are spreading rumors about me trying to kill myself. The rumors have died down a little now that nothing has happened, but still, something to look into.’ _

“You think the student is a Slytherin?” He arched an eyebrow. Harry refrained from rolling her eyes. 

_ ‘Aren’t they always?’ _

He chuckled. 

They were allowed to leave. Harry took them up on it before Snape could find something else to frame them with. 

~later that evening~

Gellert looked into his book and saw the green calligraphic writing of Tom Riddle. The cat was frozen eh? He chuckled slightly.  _ Pity that beast didn’t die. The water from that busted pipe must have done it. _

He read Ginny’s account and scowled. Her loyalty to her friend was challenging to overcome.  _ I’ll have to push her a little more. _

~days pass~

Harry walked out of Charms class with a thoughtful look on her face. She looked at her notes as she walked all the way down to lunch. She ignored Ron and Hermione argue about something or other. She didn’t even notice when Tom came up to them. 

Frowning, she excused herself, rushed over to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Pursing her lips, she raised her wand. “Colovario.” Her hair turned to the exact shade of red that was her mother’s. Harry smiled slightly at the image. She would switch between them. She’d keep her red hair until she could show it to Sirius and her parents, and then she’d change back to black and then to something else. May she would try brown or violet or flaming red like the Weasleys. Harry laughed lightly and hurried to lunch. 

Ron yelped when he saw her. Hermione was impressed when she heard that Harry had done the spell herself. “Why red though?”

Shrugging, Harry smiled. “Cause it was the color of my mother’s hair.” She flipped her curls. “Like it?” Ron shrugged slightly. 

“Guess it’s fine. Takes some getting used to.”

“I plan on changing my hair a lot now that I know I can do it.” Harry grinned. “I want to find out what I look like blonde. Maybe I can even change my eye color. Wouldn't it be cool?!”

She turned to look over at Tom and blinked when she saw him gaping at her. The entire Slytherin table was staring at her. Slightly put off, Harry turned away and then caught sight of Snape also staring at her.  _ Oh. Right. He was also friends with my mum. I look just like her now. _ Harry decided it was fun to fuck with people’s heads and so smiled exactly as her mum did. He choked but hid his choking very well. Harry turned away and hid her smirk.

She grabbed the cup in front of her and took a long drink of her pumpkin juice. Nose curling at the taste, she set it down and forced herself to swallow. “Ugh. That’s turned!”

Hermione sniffed it. “Smells funny. Better not eat drink any more of it.” Harry nodded and started to dish out her food. She didn’t get to eat much of it, sadly, because Hermione started talking about house elves and enslavement and what not. Harry started playing mediator between her two friends again. 

It was a pity that she couldn’t eat much food. She hadn’t had anything all day, having to skip breakfast because she overslept.  Harry absently grabbed her cup again and drank more before putting it down sharply. She forgot it had turned.  “Ugh, does a person have to die to have peace!” She smirked at her quarreling friends and then frowned in confusion. Her stomach was rolling. “Huh.”

Hermione and Ron didn’t notice. The other Gryffindors were getting involved in the argument about House Elves. Apparently some pureblood lions had them.

“HARRIET! YOU’RE DYING! You’ve been poisoned!” Death was suddenly there beside her.

“I…what?” She couldn’t see much anymore. Standing up, she got a wave of dizziness and collapsed.

Someone screamed. 

Harry couldn’t breathe.

Hermione was shouting her name. Something darkened her vision. 

No. No, that was just her vision darkening.

Harry opened her eyes and found herself in a room of white. Death was standing there, looking angry. Her parents were there.

Lily smiled softly at her. “You’re dead, Harry. It’ll be a few moments before you can return to your body. Madam Pomfrey is currently trying to resuscitate you.”

James was scowling. “Who did this? Who poisoned my little girl?!” He was looking straight at Death. The being shook his head. 

“I do not know, James.”

That answer didn’t satisfy her father.

Harry’s body jerked. “Am I going back?”

“Yes, darling.” Lily reached forward and grabbed her into a hug. “I can touch you right now.” She kissed her repeatedly around her face. James held her too. Harry melted into their embrace, her own arms tightening around them, never wanting to let go.

“Be careful, Harriet. Someone wants you dead. I know you can’t stay dead, but your friends might get in the way.” James stared at her somberly before smiling and kissing her forehead gently and lovingly. “Though I have to say, you look just as pretty as your mum with that beautiful red hair.” He winked at Lily, who blushed.

Harry smiled and then closed her eyes, and she enjoyed her parents actually holding her. “I’ll see you again.” Her body shivered and shook. She started fading. With tears in their eyes, Lily and James Potter smiled at their daughter as she returned to the world of the living.

Harry gasped for breath and screamed as she sat straight up, body stiff as a board.

“Cut off the current! She’s awake!” 

She was coaxed back to lying down by someone. She looked up and saw the blurry face of a concerned Albus Dumbledore. Madam Pomfrey was barking orders to Snape and a few nurses.

Harry frowned when she thought she saw Snape’s hands shake. Her vision must still be wonky.

“Who brought me back?” Was her voice really that hoarse?

“Brought you back?” Snape’s voice was dark. “Explain.”

“Really Severus! She’s been through enough as it is!” Albus gave him a sharp look. 

“I was in a room of white. I saw my parents.” Harry shook her head. “Was it just a dying dream?”

“You know you were dying?” The Potion Master was staring at her. “What were you dying of?”

“Poison.” Harry realized too late that she was far too coherent than was normal. Most people wouldn’t have known what hit them or how or why. She knew it all.  _ Just as if I was the one who did it. Bloody hell, I’m playing right into this person’s hands!  _

All the teachers were looking at her with concern now. Harry knew what was going through their minds.  _ Maybe the rumors are true? Does she want to die? _

Harry struggled to sit up, but Albus stopped her. “Easy, Harriet. Relax. You’re recovering.” He gave her a warning look before going back to the easy-going appearance he had before. Harry sighed but let the nurses and teachers fuss over her.

When they were done, Harry was allowed exactly  _ one  _ person to see her. She chose Hermione.

“Oh Harry, what happened?!”

“Someone wants me dead, and wants everyone to think I’m off my head and suicidal.” Her answer was laced with amusement. “Truly ambitious of this person, what? Wanting me to die is a tall order.” She smiled faintly.

“Honestly, Harry! This is no laughing matter!” Hermione stomped her foot.

“I didn't mind dying. I got to hug my mum and dad.” She looked off to the side.

Hermione’s face softened. “Oh Harry…at least you got that out of this poisoning business, but don’t go around saying you want to die. It’s running rampant. Professor Snape wanted to pull you out of school and get you to a mind healer!” Her eyes were wide. “You should have seen him, Harry! He was the first to pick you up and take you to Pomfrey! He was holding you like he would a treasured object!”

“Huh. He must realize that I’m Lily’s child too. Not just James’.”

“What?”

“Mum had green eyes and red hair. I changed my hair to red. Now he sees me with red hair and sees the relation. Seeing me collapse like that probably gave him a fright and a flashback too.”

Hermione’s eyes were wide. “Oh hell…”

“Yep.” Harry chuckled and then looked at her in concern. “How are the others?”

“Well, when Snape was looking you over, Dumbledore got to your drink and deemed it poisoned. The teachers found out that someone stole poison from Filch’s office that he used in dealing with the rats in the dungeon.”

“Bloody hell, and I was in Filch’s office.” Harry rubbed at her eyes in exhaustion.

Hermione nodded, biting her lip. “Everyone thinks you’re trying to kill yourself. They're saying that now that Grindelwald is back, you want to beat him to killing you. Some Ravenclaws are even saying that choosing your own way of death is more respectable than being killed off by a mad man.”

Slumping against her bed, Harry groaned. “This is bloody ridiculous!” 

“I know.” Hermione looked up when Pomfrey entered. 

“Visiting is over.” She gave them both stern looks.

Hermione gave her a friend a hug and left. She glanced at Tom and faltered when she saw a look of pure hatred and loathing. When she looked again, it was gone. Tom smiled pleasantly at her. “So, how was Harry?”

“She’s somber. She isn’t trying to kill herself.” Ron scoffed.

“Of course not! Bloody idiotic all these rumors. Harry doesn’t want to die.”

Tom looked troubled and then he looked at Hermione and felt rage curling through him yet again. Harry chose the mudblood over him?! Her first friend! He knew Hermione Granger had to die. She would be eaten by the basilisk. Tom would make sure of it. His hand curled around the notebook. 

He smiled faintly. 

“Tom?”

Blinking, Tom looked at his two friends. “Yeah?”

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing.” He frowned slightly. He didn’t remember what he was thinking. To say this troubled him was an understatement.  _ Am I going out of my mind? _ It was a question he was asking himself too frequently these days.

~meanwhile~

Ginny stared at the can of rat poison under her bed and bit her lip until it bled. She stood up to tell the teachers and then noticed the notebook. She sat down again and picked it up. Grabbing a quill, she began to write. 

It soothed her. Ginny smiled softly. 

Yes, that was right. 

She remembered now. Harry Potter needed to die.


	7. The Puppet Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry, Ron, and Hermione have a few leads on what's going on in the castle.  
> Also, a shocking discovery is made.

Harry frowned when she realized that while everyone else at dinner was carving their meat themselves, her food was already cut up. She picked up her fork and was acutely aware of Snape watching her intently. 

_ Probably making sure I won’t try and drown myself in my goblet. _ She sighed quietly and continued eating. Ron and Hermione were completely fine, but everyone else was walking around her like they were walking on eggshells. Or like she was a lit piece of dynamite with a short fuse.  _ People don’t understand suicide, so they act like it’s catching. Now I’ve got a disease. Brilliant. _

She looked around and sighed again. Justin Finch-Fletchley actually ran away from her. Wood offered to give her more rest and was constantly saying how great she was and how much she had to live for and enjoy in life. Harry was just glad that the papers hadn’t gotten ahold of the rumors. She exhaled quietly and settled a soft smile on her face and continued with dinner.

Meanwhile, Hermione was wondering what this monster could be. Everyone was looking for  _ Hogwarts: A History _ to read up on haunts and monsters and curses and such that the castle could have that were awoken. Hermione was reading everything the library had to offer.

Harry looked over at Tom and found it strange that he didn’t spend as much time with her as he used to. 

They went to their rooms after dinner, and Harry was acutely aware of all the paintings keeping an eye on her. 

Death appeared sitting on her bed. “McGonagall covered your room with listening wards and danger sensing wards. Anytime your emotions go a little higher or lower than normal, she is alerted.”

‘ _ Is Dumbledore aware?’ _

“Yes. He is concerned with you wanting to die in order to fully unify with Death. Not being a Necromancer, after all, he doesn’t understand. He partially thinks you want to keep killing yourself to gain unity with me.” Death snorted. “Though to be fair, most of him thinks this whole thing is hogwash and someone is out to kill you.”

_ ‘Bloody hell on a pogo stick.’ _ She rubbed her head.

“Headache, Harry?”

“A small one. With everyone looking over my shoulder like they are, I’m beginning to feel like a bug under a glass.” Harry picked up a scroll and a quill and wrote down, ‘ _ Listening wards have been put up. Do not talk about anything suspicious.’ _

Hermione’s eyes widened as she nodded her head. “I’m sorry about all this Harry. I don’t understand why anyone would think you’re trying to kill yourself. You obviously love life.”

“Depression from family, life situations, bullying, and a near-death traumatic experience from last year. I actually don’t blame them for thinking I’m suicidal.” Harry huffed slightly and then rolled her eyes. “But I would never go at it so elaborately, and I wouldn’t do it at school. Honestly. The Dursleys would probably give me a gun and help me load it. If I really wanted to kill myself, then all I would have to do is wait for school to let out for Christmas and then go home and then grab one of Dudley’s knives and slit my wrists. Course, I’d have to do it on the kitchen floor so the carpet wouldn’t stain.”

“Harry! How morbid!” Hermione gave her a warning look and then groaned. “With that kind of talk, no one is going to believe that you’re-”

“No one is believing me now. Why should I try to convince them of something that they are so determined to ignore? It’s a practice in futility, Hermione.” Harry huffed a breath as she sat down beside Death. Hermione followed her and then sat directly through Death. “OH!”

Hermione looked up through Death’s disgruntled face. “What’s the matter?” The visual was extremely disturbing for Harry.

“N-nothing, I just realized that I forgot a book in the library. I’ll have to go and get it tomorrow.” Death huffed, got up, and vanished with a nod in her direction. 

The girls were then greeted by Lav and Par and all serious talk ceased. Harry pleasantly dealt with Lav and Par trying to soothe her and give her a pep talk that was more derogatory about her fashion sense, hair, and lack of breasts or makeup and how they could help her.

Hermione harrumphed and snorted through it all in a perfect imitation of McGonagall.

~meanwhile~

Minerva stared at Severus and then at Albus. “She cannot be allowed to go home, Albus.”

Not quite knowing what to believe, Albus simply nodded his head. On one hand, Harriet Potter had every reason not to want to live on. On the other hand, she had every reason to continue living. 

She had a very strong chance of defeating Grindelwald and she knew it. So killing herself because of her enemy was ludicrous. Also, she  _ couldn't _ die.

She had a strong friend base and support system, so killing herself out of loneliness was out. Also, she couldn't  _ die _ .

Harriet showed no signs- save for that one anxiety attack last year- of any depression or hysteria. And Dumbledore knew that had to do with something about her personal life and not lack of sleep. That was one point in favor of suicide, but- 

Harry Potter did not strike Albus Dumbledore as the type to give up. 

She was too stubborn to die.  _ Also _ , she couldn't die.

That alone told Albus that everyone was wrong. She wasn’t suicidal. She was a victim of assassination attempts. That was why he was allowing Snape to watch her, allowing those danger wards to be placed, allowing all her food to be tested, and allowing her to stay even for the summer if necessary. While everyone was watching her, he would be watching her surroundings.

He listened to Severus and Minerva nitpick each other. Severus’ attitude had done a complete turnabout, but Albus wasn’t complaining. It was good to have someone else care for the child, though he doubted Harriet Potter needed much protection from adults. 

“I will not take Harriet off the Quidditch Team, Severus Snape! How dare you try and use her misfortune for Slytherin gain!”

“If she goes high enough up and slips off, then-”

“I will slow her descent and save her life.” Albus looked at Severus. “There is a line that we must not cross. Harriet has a right to pursue and experience basic human happiness.”

Sneering, Severus glared at him. “Then why do you continuously send her off to  _ Petunia _ ?”

Dumbledore sighed tiredly and didn’t answer.

~the next day~

Harry listened intently as Binns explained that Slytherin had a monster, a ‘horror within’ a secret chamber. She cursed internally as whispers and rumors started going on. She frowned intently and then closed her eyes and tampered with the memories of all students in the classroom, excluding Hermione’s and Ron’s. She made them forget about who brought the monster. She protected Tom’s future and made people think the old legend was about how Salazar Slytherin left  _ because _ of the monster that came into Hogwarts and no one believed him when he told them about it. She made them think that the books had been slanted against Slytherin.

Everyone accepted the changes. Harry was suddenly dizzy. Changing the memories in the souls of everyone at school was very difficult. Because of the sheer number, some students may have slipped past her wipe, but that was alright. It would create a sense of normalcy to an outside observer.

“Harry?”

“Hey. Sorry, just got dizzy. Haven’t eaten much lately.” She smiled at her friend and pointedly ignored the whisperings about purposeful starvation.

After class, Harry went back to the place that Mrs. Norris was frozen at. The cat wasn’t there any more of course, but this was the crime scene so to speak. 

_ If the monster is indeed Salazar Slytherin’s, and if the heir to Slytherin is the only one who can control it, then it has to be Tom. He’s the only one. _ She tried to figure out why he would target Muggle Borns. He hadn’t cared a fig for them before this. He hated Muggles, not Muggle Borns. He agreed that they shouldn’t be targeted. 

Shaking her head, Harry knew she wouldn’t get anything just from staring at the lantern. She looked up when Hermione and Ron joined her. 

Almost without effort, Hermione started gathering clues. Ron, however, was on the other side of the hall. 

Hermione giggled. “Spiders? You’re afraid of spiders?”

“I don’t like how they move,” Ron stated defensively, and then looked at Harry. “Are you afraid of anything?”

Staring at him, Harry spoke seriously. “I’m afraid of my friends dying for me when they don’t need to.” She turned back and studied the scorch marks. “I’m afraid of abusing my abilities and becoming the very monster I was born to fight and kill. I’m afraid of betraying those I love and being betrayed in turn. I’m afraid of being left behind, alone, and disregarded.”

They didn’t have anything to say about that. Hermione swallowed and swiftly changed the subject. They went into the bathroom.

After Percy sent them on their way, Harry frowned and stared at her homework. “I don’t think Tom’s in his right mind.”

They grew quiet. Ron pushed aside his spotted Charm’s paper. “Whadya mean, Harry?”

“I mean, he’s under some spell. Some curse. He wouldn’t target Muggle Borns. Not now, probably not ever. He hates  _ Muggles _ . He’d sent the monster to go feasting on Muggle towns, not this school. It’s not…not what he’s after. He’s after power. He’s not using this terror to get anything. It’s a terror for terror’s sake and not his style.”

Hermione nodded slowly. Ron looked convinced. “Know what you mean. He wants to be noticed doing things. He’s a diva as they say. He hates anonymity.” Hermione looked at Ron amazed, but he shrugged it off. “I spent the summer getting to know him. Nothing spectacular.”

Harry mused out loud, “So the question is, who is controlling him? And how do we get him freed?”

They heard a noise and looked up and saw it was Ginny. She was walking in a sort of daze. Harry frowned and remembered what Death had said about Ginny. Maybe Ron would know what was happening. Was Ginny doing Dark Magic? “Ron, do you know what’s wrong with Ginny? I heard some girls in her year talking about how she was throwing up a lot.”

Ron shook his head. “None of us can understand what’s going on. She’s not being helped by any of Pomfrey’s potions. There’s nothing wrong with her that anyone can see. She’s just…fading.” He scowled. “I hate it.”

Trying to find what Death had referenced, Harry scanned her soul again and found nothing except- Harry sat bolt upright. Oh. _So that's what Death saw. Shit._ “Her soul. Ron…you’re right. She  _ is _ fading.” Her eyes were wide. “The same thing was happening to Quirrell. Ron…your sister is dying.”

He was pale. Bleached white. “No. NO!”

Harry stared at her hands. “I can’t stop it until I find out who’s taking her life energy. We need to find out who’s stealing from her, how they are killing her, how close they are to her, and then I can stop them.”

“Who was stealing from Quirrell?” Ron’s voice was rough. Hermione was covering her mouth with her hands, eyes filling with tears and horror.

“Grindelwald, but he’s in prison now. No one else knows Soul Magic except for him and me.” She missed it, but Ron’s eyes flashed with brief suspicion before vanishing completely. Hermione was angry on behalf of her friend but also understood that the shock was getting to Ron. He was just now learning that his sister was being slowly  _ murdered _ .

Harry looked up at them somberly. “We find out who’s killing her, and we find out who’s controlling Tom too. I think it’s the same person.”

“The same person who’s also trying to kill you.” Hermione looked at her friend grimly.

Harry nodded. “Yeah. Taking energy from Ginny, controlling Tom, and trying to kill me.”

“What about that Elf?” Ron’s voice was bright with an emotion Harry didn’t know. 

“Dobby? What about him?”

“You said he came to warn you about something terrible happening, right?”

Eyes widening, Harry jumped up and began to pace in front of the fire. “Dobby is Malfoy’s Elf.” She looked at them intently. 

Ron caught on. “Tom goes over to Draco’s place all the time!”

Shaking her head, Hermione bit her lip. “But you said that Draco was backing Tom. Why would he try to-”

“Not Draco. Draco doesn’t have the power or the means to be a Necromancer. He doesn’t know Soul Magic.” Harry froze. “But Blaise…does…”

“Harry?”

She looked at her friends. “Blaise Zabini and his mother are Necromancers, not as powerful as me or Grindelwald, but they know things. I haven’t had a chance to find out how much they know, but they asked me to teach them. Blaise and Tom had a falling out last year. Blaise has been in Tom’s bad books for a while now. What if-”

“Blaise is stealing Ginny’s power to augment his own to control Tom?!” Ron shushed Hermione and looked around furtively. No one was around to overhear.

Harry nodded. “If this happened around Malfoy Manor, then Dobby would have possibly overheard it.”

“And moved to warn you.” Ron frowned darkly. “But what would Blaise Zabini want with targeting Muggle Borns  _ and _ you?”

Hermione spoke up softly. “He’s a purist. His mother’s not, but his father is. I overheard him and Tom talking once about it. Tom was debating with him about the science of genetics over stupid superstition. Blaise apparently ended up agreeing with him, but…”

Sighing, Harry rubbed her face tiredly. “Alright, we need to find out if Blaise is the mastermind. He’s definitely smart enough to pull this off. His mother most likely isn’t helping him as Hermione said, she likes Muggle Borns.”

They nodded seriously. 

Ron glowered at the fire. “I just want my little sister safe. How are we gonna find out if it really is Zabini?”

Hermione’s eyes glinted slightly with an idea. Both Harry and Ron looked at her. “Yes?”

After a few minutes of listening to Hermione hem and haw about school rules, Ron and Harry finally got it out of her that she was thinking about polyjuice. 

“But we’ll need a teacher’s signed permission.” Hermione looked worried. Harry smirked and shrugged. 

“Forge it.”

“Harry!” She looked askance. Ron frowned. 

“Who would believe-”

“Forge a signature of Lockhart. He’ll sign anything pushed at him. No one will question it too much. Hermione, I know you’ve got some stuff smuggled away that he’s signed. I need to study them. Then I need you and Ron to get a permission slip. I’ll attract too much attention.” Harry rolled her eyes. “Harriet Potter requesting a book from the Restricted Section to look up new ways to kill herself.”

Ron couldn’t help but snicker at the morbid joke. Hermione huffed at the rule-breaking and lies but went off to do as Harry requested. 

After studying the flamboyant scrawl, she copied it off perfectly. Ron was impressed. “You do this often?”

“Every time my old school had a field trip, I forged Aunt Petunia’s signature and went. They would never noticed me gone because they’d think I was locked in my cupboard. I always ‘accidentally’ did magic to be punished for. They never bothered me, and I traveled through the shadows to the school with the signed permission slip. Easy peasy.” Harry finished the signature and handed it to Hermione. “Tadaa!” 

Hermione’s stern look had softened at the story. “Oh Harry…”

She shrugged. “It’s fine. I spend most of my break in the Underworld.” Ron gagged. 

“Creepy place that.”

Hermione blinked. “How would you know that?”

“Er, Harry took me there when we couldn’t get through the median.” They walked off towards the painting entrance. Hermione’s betrayed voice rose. 

“And you didn’t take me?! I want to see what it’s like! There are so many legends and stories! How could you?!”

Harry snickered as Ron tried to temper Hermione’s temper. She went back to her homework.

Once she was done, she slipped away to write Sirius a letter. She didn’t have any letter paper though, but she knew Neville had loads, so she looked over at the boy. 

“Neville, can I go up to your room and grab some letter paper?”

“S-sure Harry!” He flushed. Harry was pretty certain that Neville would have said that even if she asked him to give her his soul. She smiled at him prettily and went up the stairs, very glad that girls could get into boys dorms.

She moved through Neville’s things and grabbed a few pieces and then stopped as she saw the rat on Ron’s bed. She snorted slightly.  _ Scabbers doesn’t do anything but sleep. _ She blinked for a second and turned back to check if the rat was even still alive. What she saw was strange. Frightening. There was a human soul inside the rat. 

“Bloody hell!” Harry tried to breathe. Scabbers snoozed on.  _ ‘Death! Death?!’ _

Her mentor and friend appeared. “ _ What is it?” _

_ ‘He has a human soul locked inside him! An animal with a human soul!’ _

“Oh that. He’s an animagus. Strange. What would an animagus rat be doing with-” Death trailed off and looked at Harry. Harry stared at Scabbers. Quick as a flash, she snatched Scabbers by the tail and traveled to Dumbledore’s office.

Snape, McGonagall, and Dumbledore were there. They jumped up in shock, well Snape and McGonagall did when she suddenly appeared. Dumbledore simply raised an eyebrow.

Harry threw down the rat and pulled out her wand. “Revelio!”

The rat screamed but couldn't stop the transformation. Harry snarled in rarely seen rage. “And there, professors, is the dearly departed Peter Pettigrew.”

This time Dumbledore  _ was _ stunned.

The man was sniveling, cowering, in front of them. Harry wasn’t done. “Petrificus Totalus!” He froze. Stepping forward, she pushed his sleeve up and showed it to the room. “Nice tattoo, kinda looks like mine.” It was a brand of the Deathly Hallows. Grindelwald’s mark.

Snape had stood up fully, stiff and still. McGonagall was covering her mouth and staring in shock.

Harry unfroze him. The story poured out of him. How he needed money because of debts. How he hadn’t meant for James and Lily to die. He only wanted Grindelwald to be happy.

Harry exhaled and looked at Dumbledore. “I trust that my godfather will be released?”

“On that, you have my word, my dear.” Dumbledore stood and walked closer to Pettigrew. “I will take this one personally to Fudge.” With a crack, he was gone.

Harry adjusted their memories and made Snape and McGonagall think she came through the door instead of just appearing. 

With that done, she sat down with a sigh. “I’m not wanting to die, you know. I don’t know who’s behind it, but I’m not suicidal. I really wish people would stop hiding pointed objects from me and trying to take my wand away.” She gave them a look each. They weren’t looking at her. Harry carded her hand through her red hair with a tired sigh. 

“I understand.” Snape finally looked at her. “But that means someone is truly after you, silly girl. So forgive us if we will continue to watch you.”

“By all means.” She waved a careless hand. “But I think the Muggle Borns are in more need.”

“No one has tried to kill them yet.” McGonagall looked at her sharply. “You, they have already tried.”

“I think it’s one and the same.” Harry stared at the ceiling. “Whoever is after my skin, is wanting to wreak havoc in the school too. If somebody does die here, then Hogwarts will have to shut down. If that happens, then my security will drop drastically. It will also be a huge morale blow to the community at large.”

“The only person who would want that would be Grindelwald.” Snape scoffed. “And just in case your memory serves you ill, he’s imprisoned.”

“Yes, and everyone _also_ thought he was dead for a decade. Forgive me for not taking that imprisonment as gospel.” Harry gave him a droll look and then stood up. “Excuse me, Professors, I’m going to class. I’ve already skipped one, and Lockhart would be lost without his Harry, Harry, Harry.” Snape barked a laugh. Even McGonagall looked amused.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are appreciated!   
> Thank you for reading. ; D  
> Ink...


	8. The Bludger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go ahead with the potion, and Ron finds out what happened to his rat.   
> Meanwhile, Harry is considering something very dangerous.

After classes were all over, Harry went to the Common Room while Hermione and Ron went off to the library. No one would even think twice about Hermione Granger doing a little extra reading. 

However, while Harry was waiting, she felt an urge to be with her godfather. Looking this way and that, she faded into the shadows and appeared at his cell. His new cell. 

Sirius Black was no longer in Azkaban. He was taken to a new holding cell, where he would stay, awaiting his trial. Peter Pettigrew was also in a holding cell. She blinked as she heard the cursing that Sirius was shouting at the quivering man. 

She phased into his cell and coughed delicately. “How are you holding in your holding cell?”

Sirius gaped at her and then quickly put a privacy charm over his cell. He put his wand- kept a secret from the Minister- away and then swept her up into a hug. 

“Thank you, Harry. Thank you so much! You found the rat! I’m gonna be free! You won’t have to stay with those damned Dursleys any longer! I’ll kill Dumbledore if he tries to keep you there.”

“Well, I could always threaten suicide. It seems that’s what everyone expects from me lately.” At Sirius’ completely blank look, Harry explained everything that was going on. “So you see, we think it’s Blaise, but why he would go to all these lengths is…a bit strange. He struck me as a nice enough boy. This is diabolical and dark. It’s like Grindelwald, but he’s in prison with wards specially made by Dumbledore himself. I can’t imagine he’s out and about. Someone would have noticed him missing.”

Sirius frowned at the floor. “You’re right. It doesn’t match Zabini, but he’s got the means, the motive, and the power. It matches Grindelwald, but he isn’t around to do this. Damn. Anything Death can see?”

“Nothing. Whenever the person tried to kill me, he either wasn’t there or he couldn’t see because the person was wearing my cloak.”

“That’s one thing I don’t get. How could Blaise get ahold of your cloak?”

“He could have Tom use the special counter spell he made to get into my rooms.”

“But Gryffindor Tower is password protected.” Sirius frowned at her. “Neither he nor Tom could get through that.”

“Ginny? He could have control over her like he has over Tom.” Harry felt sick at the thought. “But how do I break it?”

“I don’t know. I’m not the Necromancer. Why don’t you just soul read him? Make an excuse to train him, and then read his soul. Find out if he is truly the one behind this.” 

Harry nodded. “Guess so, but he’s never alone. Tom would find it funny that I want Blaise and not him. He’s acting strangely, but not strange enough to forget his protective instincts over me. He won’t like the idea of me going off alone with someone else. He might make trouble.” Harry looked up at him and grinned. “This is why, Ron, Hermione, and I are planning on taking Polyjuice and sneaking into the Slytherin Common Room. We’ll be going as Draco, Tom, and Crabbe or Goyle. That way, he might even start ordering ‘Tom’ around and we’ll know for sure without raising eyebrows.”

Sirius stared at her in surprise and then chuckled softly. “You are your father’s daughter alright. Make the Marauders proud.” He winked at her. Then his face grew stony. “By the way, have you heard from Moony anytime?”

“No. Not a word.” Harry frowned at Sirius. “Give it time. The papers don’t even know about your trial and innocence yet. He’ll come.”

“He’d better.” He huffed and then gave Harry a tight hug. “You’d better leave now. I’m gonna take a nap and you’re probably going to be checked in on to make sure you haven’t killed yourself.” He barked a laugh. “Those idiots.”

Harry grinned up at him and then gave him a very tight hug before disappearing back to her bedroom. 

~that evening~

Harry looked at the list of ingredients that they would need to steal. She bit her lip. “That’s going to be a challenge. Snape won’t be easy to rob.”

Ron- who still didn’t know about his rat as Harry didn’t know exactly how to tell him about it- was still stewing about how long it would take. His sister might be dead by that time. “I still think we should just go up to Blaise Zabini and punch him in the nose.”

Shaking her head, Hermione gave him a sad look. “Harry’s right. She can’t approach Blaise without raising eyebrows, and  _ we  _ can’t approach him at all. A month is the best we’ve got. Just keep an eye on both of them and make sure they don’t…die or kill anyone.” Hermione swallowed thickly. “I’m sorry Ron.”

“It’s fine.” He stood up and walked away. 

~the next day~

Harry knew Fred and George were angry with Oliver. His wording was a bit…poky. Die trying. Harry smirked as the rain pelted her face. The twins were distracted. They didn’t want the bludger- possibly cursed by Harry herself- to break her neck. 

Oliver was both guilty and eager for the match to be won. Harry’s safety over his natural competitiveness was fighting inside him.

Jumping to the side, Harry started to outrun the bludger.  _ ‘The hell is going on here, Death?!’ _

“Well, it has been cursed. That’s for sure. The magic isn’t human. It’s House Elf magic. So, I would assume that Dobby has done this.” Death was floating alongside her, keeping an eye on the thing.

_ ‘WHY?!’ _

She ignored Malfoy’s worried look, and Pansy’s shouted jeering, and dodged another attack by the bludger.

“Perhaps he was ordered to do so by Tom?”

Harry spared a look at Tom. He was on his feet, knuckles white, eyes wide.  _ ‘No. He didn’t do this. He’s petrified.’ _

“Bad pun, all things considered.”

Harry gave Death a foul glare and then got smacked with the bludger. As she dodged the second attack, she saw the snitch hanging in the air behind Malfoy’s worried and terrified face. She knew she had to grab that snitch. Broken arm or not.

Mounting her broom, she ducked the bludger and raced towards Malfoy. His eyes widened, but she zipped past him and grabbed the snitch.

Her broom lost control, and she nose-dived into the ground. There were screaming and shouting, and whistling, and lots of people calling her name. Harry stared at the snitch and vaguely wondered at it.

“Aha…we won.” She wished she couldn't feel pain at the moment.

“Shit! He’s coming!”

She didn’t know who Death was talking about. She then saw blond hair, shining teeth, and green. “NO! Get- away! Don’t!” Her red hair got into her face and Harry spat it out. Lockhart got closer while she was distracted.

“Doesn’t know what she’s saying. Not to worry Harry, I’ll fix your arm!”

He didn’t get a chance. Tom raced out of nowhere and shoved him into the mud, pulled out his own wand and murmured, “Episkey.” She felt her arm pop back into place and start to mend. Tom looked around. “Someone get a bloody competent teacher! And Madam Pomfrey!”

Snape was suddenly there. He conjured a stretcher and levitated Harry onto it. He looked at the muddy and stunned Lockhart and then looked at Tom. “Twenty points for Slytherin.” The students- Gryffindor and Slytherin alike- snickered as Snape carried Harry out of there. Ron was following along with Tom and Hermione. Snape gave the two Gryffindors a dirty look, but didn’t stop them from coming with.

Tom sent Filch a stinging hex when no one was looking when the man started saying how Potter deserved this.  _ She deserves everything good this world has to offer and is instead, given everything horrible. Justice does not exist. _ He snarled silently and hurried after his unconscious friend.

~that night~

Harry looked at Dobby. After she steadied her breathing, she looked at him. “You set the bludger on me?”

He nodded.

“You blocked the barrier?”

He nodded again.

Harry’s eyes narrowed at the murderously stupid elf. “And did you try to crush me or poison me?”

Dobby’s eyes widened. “Oh no! Misses Harriet Potter! Dobby would never kill Harriet Potter! Dobby would NEVER do that!”

“Right.”

“Better sent home grievously injured to St. Mango’s, Misses Harriet Potter, than stay here! Danger here!” His eyes grew rounder, which Harry hadn’t thought possible.

“It’s St. Mungos, Dobby, and I am not in danger of dying. I’m more concerned with whatever is killing Muggle Borns.” She gave him a sharp look and then saw into the Elf’s soul. 

She saw Tom talking to Draco about his ancestor’s chamber. Saw Dobby realize that they were talking about a monster in Hogwarts. Saw Draco wonder if the monster could be controlled once unleashed, and was concerned about his, Tom’s, and Harriet’s safety. She saw Tom nod his head somberly and say he’d research it. 

Not once did she see Tom scheme about how to kill Muggle Borns except make a joke or two about getting rid of the annoying, bossy, bookworm. But even Harry knew he wasn’t serious. No, Tom just wanted to explore and find another heirloom of his paltry house.

He wanted a connection.

She released a terrified and confused Dobby and frowned thoughtfully. “Dobby, I, Harriet Potter, formally request that you leave me alone, and do not involve me in your magic unless I specifically ask for you and your magic to aid me in a specific order.”

Dobby straightened and nodded quickly. “Dobby will do anything Harriet Potter says!”

“Good Dobby.” She smiled at him. “I want you to stay safe. Do not do anything that would cause you to punish yourself, okay? Just stay quiet and wait for me to call you if I need you.”

“Dobby will do that! Dobby will obey anything Harry Potter says!” Dobby vanished with a pop. Harry exhaled in relief and then tensed when the door to the medical ward opened. She slipped from the bed and peeked around the curtain. It was a bunch of teachers!

She listened and then blanched when she realized that they knew about the chamber of secrets. Apparently, it had been opened once a long time ago, nearly a hundred years ago.  _ But they don’t know it can only be controlled by Slytherin? Right? Tom won’t get expelled. He can’t. I need his power and influence in order to defeat Grindelwald!  _

She hoped and pleaded with fickle Fate that the petrified boy wasn’t Ron. He was pureblood, but the monster might not be controllable. Tom didn’t even know. 

Swallowing, she edged out to take a look. The teachers hadn’t noticed her yet. She nearly cried when she saw it was Colin Creevey.  _ He was the one who stopped me from reaching out the window for Hedwig last week. Thought I was about to jump.  _ She felt guilty for getting angry at him. 

Covering herself in shadows, she slipped closer and watched them take the camera from his grip. The film was melted. She bit her lip.  _ What in the world could do this?! And what ancestor of Tom’s opened it up before? What stopped him? _

Hermione and Ron weren’t there when she was released, and they also weren’t around when she went to the Great Hall. Looking around, she saw Tom, who hurried after her. Draco was with him, and so, to Harry’s chagrin, was Blaise. Giving her a furtive once over, Tom pulled her into a tight hug and then let her quickly go. “How are you?”

“Well, Madam Rule Follower Pomfrey let me go, so I suppose I’m alright. She can heal broken bones in seconds, they just wanted to make sure nothing was worse when I took that fall.” She looked at Draco and offered him a smile. “Don’t blame yourself. Not even Madam Hooch noticed the cursed bludger.” She gave Blaise’s soul a quick scan and, to her utter surprise- caught nothing. He obviously wasn’t a master in soul magic, or else he would have been able to guard himself. Biting her lip, she wondered who it could be. Blaise’s innocence really blew a hole in her theory.

_ Of course, he could be faking and letting me see fabricated memories while still hiding everything, but this doesn’t match his personality at all! _

Tom was speaking again. Harry listened. “In case you’re looking for Granger and Ron, they’re off doing homework together for Potions. Apparently, Ron’s behind again.” He rolled his eyes. Harry snorted.

“Ah, okay.” She gave him a hug and then was off before he could make a big deal out of it. Tom only liked to initiate hugs. He hated receiving them.

After snagging a roll, a banana, and a slice of ham, Harry dashed off and made herself covered in shadow. 

_ ‘Death, do you know where they are?’ _

_ ‘Yes. They’re in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom.’ _

Harry shivered slightly at the thought. Moaning Myrtle was murdered a long, long time ago by a Slytherin student. No one knew how it happened, not even Myrtle. All she saw was a pair of glowing eyes, and then she died. Harry shook her head and entered the bathroom, allowing herself to be seen.

Hermione jumped when the bathroom door slammed shut. “Oh Harry, you gave us such a fright!”

Ron explained through tightly clenched teeth, “I wanted to get straight on the potion.” Harry nodded. He looked worse than before.

“Ron? What’s the matter?”

“Scabbers ran off. He’s been missing since yesterday.” 

Harry winced. “Erm…actually, Dumbledore took him.”

“WHAT?!”

Hermione looked up, potion forgotten. “Why would the headmaster want Ron’s rat!?”

Looking at them, Harry exhaled and pulled out two cushions made of black velvet from the veil. They sat down.

“Back when my father was in school, he made friends with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Unfortunately, Lupin was a werewolf. He had gotten bitten by a really mean one back when he was a toddler, barely survived. When my dad found this out, he and the two other boys became animagi. Dad became a stag. Sirius Black became a huge black dog.” She looked at Ron. “And Peter Pettigrew became a rat.”

“No…”

She nodded. “Back when Grindelwald was after my family, Dumbledore put them under a Fidelius Charm. Everyone thought their Secret Keeper was Black, but Pettigrew said that it would be too obvious and offered to be it instead. Really, the bastard just wanted to have something to report back to Grindelwald. There was a reward you see. Sirius Black was innocent all this time. When he found out that James and Lily were dead, he, of course, knew it was Pettigrew. So, he hunted the rat down. Pettigrew blew up those Muggles, faked his death, and fled.” She looked at her hands. 

Ron was very still.

“I was told this by my parents, Death, and later Sirius Black, when I went to Azkaban to visit him. Hermione knows a little about this, but not a lot. I didn’t tell you Ron, because honestly, I forgot what with all the excitement. My godfather was still stuck in Azkaban because we hadn’t found the rat. I realized that Scabbers matched Sirius’ description perfectly. Not even Dumbledore knew about me seeing Sirius or finding out his innocence until I went to him before the Quidditch game and showed Pettigrew, forcing him through a revelio charm. He confessed, and Dumbledore took him away. Sirius is now waiting for his trial, since he was never given one the first time.”

Harry didn’t want to look at Ron. She was certain that he was going to be mad at her.

“WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?! I LET HIM SLEEP IN BED WITH ME!”

Hermione shushed him quickly and looked worriedly at the bathroom door. Harry was tense, ready to cover her friends in shadows if need be. Nothing happened. She exhaled. 

“I have more things to tell you guys.” She looked at them. “You knew about Colin, right?”

Ron nodded grimly.

She continued, “Well, last night the teachers brought him in. Apparently, the Chamber of Secrets has been opened before. And that means an ancestor of Tom’s was at Hogwarts.”

Hermione brightened. “Something was able to stop him! I wonder what it was?!”

“We can’t stop the monster until we break Tom and Ginny free. We break them free when we break Zabini’s neck.” Ron growled this out through clenched teeth.

Looking at her two friends, Harry swallowed and continued. “Well, there is that, but I have something else to tell you. Dobby came to visit me. Apparently, he was behind the barrier being closed off, and also he was behind the rogue bludger, but he  _ wasn’t _ behind the lantern or the poison.”

They gaped at her. Hermione spluttered, “That- that means both Dobby and Zabini were out to get you at the same time! Harry how are you still whole?!”

Harry grimly shook her head. “About that…I don’t think it’s Zabini. Sirius- I went to see him yesterday- doesn’t think it sounds like that kid’s style. We’re missing something. Grindelwald was thought dead for over a decade, but he turned up alive. I’m thinking it might actually be him messing with everyone. I checked Blaise’s soul this morning, and either he’s not trained in it at all and is innocent, or he’s really fucking good, better than me, and is hiding everything while acting innocent.”

Ron kicked a bathroom door hard, causing Myrtle to hiss at him. He ignored her. “It’s got to be him! Grindelwald isn’t here!”

Hermione stood up. “Even if it was Grindelwald, there’s nothing we can do short of going there ourselves. Since we can’t do that, we’ve got to do the next thing. Prove Zabini guilty or innocent. I say we continue with the potion and find out once and for all.”

Harry sighed but nodded. What Hermione said though got her thinking. She  _ could _ go and see for herself if the man was there and he wasn’t a fake.

If Grindelwald had escaped, then the alarm would have been raised, but nothing’s happened, so either he really is there or a fake is there. She frowned and looked at Hermione and then at Ron. He would be most likely to break the rules and sneak in there. Besides he needed something to keep his mind occupied. That decided, Harry knew she would have to go soon.

~later that day~

She looked around. “What’s with all the whispering?”

Tom hissed out a breath and glowered at a nearby first year Hufflepuff. The girl ran away. “Parkinson started up the rumors that you’re trying to do in everyone who stops you from killing yourself. These weak willed, noodle brained morons are believing her. They say they don’t know just how much power you’ve really got, how you were able to withstand Grindelwald and such, maybe you’re part monster yourself.”

Harry blinked at him and then looked at Hermione’s and Ron’s stunned faces and smirked softly. “Well, they aren’t half-wrong. I am a sort of monster, I suppose.”

Tom thought she was referring to her constant struggle with Necromancy. Ron and Hermione thought she was referring to her being not really human. Harry was just referencing how she thought of herself as a whole. Death moved closer and squeezed her shoulder. 

“Harriet, you are not a monster. I do not care what your stupid aunt says. You are not a monster! You didn't kill your parents!”

She leaned back and into his grip, letting him silently know that she appreciated his comfort. To everyone else, it looked like she was just relaxing into her chair.

“You’re right, Tom. They are noodle brained. I’m not controlling Slytherin’s monster.”

Tom rolled his eyes. “Some of the students think I’m responsible for it. Just because I’m the heir to Slytherin. There is no proof that this monster was Slytherin’s or could be controlled by him. We don’t even know if it really is a monster who’s doing this. It might be a powerful follower of Grindelwald.”

Harry looked over at Parvati and Lavender, working away on their Lockhart fanclub with other girls. “Well, Lockhart is kinda dangerous.”

Ron and Tom gave her a look of surprise.

Harry smirked. “To everyone’s sanity.” Looking very put out, Hermione got up and left with a huff. Harry sighed. “Shit, with all that was going on, I forgot that she liked him.” Ron looked murderous. Tom made a note of that.

Draco plopped down beside them at their table and looked behind him. “What’s up with Granger?”

“Harry pissed her off by criticizing Lockhart,” Tom spoke coolly. Draco snorted and then turned to Tom fully. 

“A lot of unscrupulous Ravenclaws and Slytherins are selling protective amulets and talismans.” He rolled his eyes. 

Harry chuckled and looked around the library. “Will they be enough to protect everyone from me?” Her smile grew sly. “I wonder.” She shrugged and got up. “Well, I’m off to kill another mudblood. Excuse me.” Draco snorted.

“Do you think it’s wise to advertise?” He looked up at her with mirthful eyes.

Shrugging, Harry was followed out by Ron. She called over her shoulder, “People will believe whatever the hell they want to believe, and no amount of truth will save them from their own idiocy.” She waved lazily and went out.

Inside though, she was boiling mad, hurt, and frustrated. Who was behind this whole damn thing? She’d stake her immortal life on Grindelwald.

“Ron.” She turned to him and pulled him aside. Lowering her voice, she spoke quickly, “We have two suspects for whoever is controlling Tom and hurting Ginny. I can tell from Ginny soul magic that she’s got till the end of this year before she goes into a coma. After that, she’s got about two months before she’s gone.” Ron looked ashen. Harry spoke intently. “It’s either Blaise, or Grindelwald. Blaise is either much cleverer than I think he is, or it’s Grindelwald who  _ is  _ cleverer. And I’m going to check on Grindelwald myself this week. I want to know if you want to come with.”

“Hermione?”

“Will balk at the idea of us going in without alerting Dumbledore.” Harry rolled her eyes. “If I show up at Grindelwald’s prison, and he can’t kill me, then it’s not gonna be him.”

Ron nodded somberly. “Alright, I’ll go with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a sort of venting for me. I've always hated it that no one came to help Harry when he clearly was not consenting for Lockhart to heal him. No one stopped the man, and then Harry got blamed for it. It's always irritated me to no end.


	9. A Very Important Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry stops hiding.

~that Friday~

Ron swallowed and took Harry’s hand. They appeared in a cold, brightly lit hallway made of dark stone. Ron shivered and stepped closer to Harry. She pointed silently to the single door. The guard was there, alert. 

Gaping at her in clear confusion, Ron gestured to themselves. Harry smirked and spoke to his mind.  _ ‘We’re invisible through my shadows. Other Necromancers could see me of course, but that guard cannot. Let’s go.’ _ He nodded.

They moved silently passed the first guard and then the second guard and the third and the fourth. Ron was boggling at the sheer amount of security. All these men and women were highly placed Aurors. He’d heard his father telling him stories. One of them was even Mad Eye Moody! A legend among even Aurors.

He poked Harry and thought loudly, ‘ _ There is no way he could break out of here and not be noticed missing.’ _

She looked grim as she nodded. They moved closer to the main door. The total amount of guards was twenty. She looked at the guard and then caused him to fall asleep before motioning Ron to stay outside to keep watch. She went into Grindelwald’s cell. He looked up instantly and smiled at her.

“Oh?” Thankfully, he kept his voice low. “And why are you here at my humble abode?”

“The entire world thought you dead for ten years when you weren’t.” She kept her voice level. “I will not make the same mistake of underestimating you.”

“How thoughtful.” He smiled at her. “Forgive me for not standing, but I am chained, as you can see, and to move would make an awfully loud clink.”

She studied the links and noted that they were indeed charmed against a plethora of spells, including ones that made it impossible for anyone other than Grindelwald to wear them. She pursed her lips and studied the man. Would he be able to do what everyone feared? Would her plans work? Her plans that had come to her that moment in the rooms below the trap door…her plans that Death had agreed with. Would they work at all? But they were slight and...Grindelwald was so hard to control. Everything around her was balanced like a precarious stack of cards, with Grindelwald being the rogue bludger this time, threatening constantly to smack everything down that she worked hard to build up.

Coming back to the present, Harry nodded with a smirk. “It's alright. You don’t have to stand.” She smirked and leaned against the door, but she paused when she realized that she could feel her magic pulsing inside him. Her eyes narrowed. “That’s strange.”

“You’re magic? Why should it be strange? You gave it to me.” He chuckled. Harry stepped closer. 

“No. It should have vaporized once your own magic was alive again. My magic did nothing but break the seal on yours.” She acted fast and shoved her hand into his chest. Grindelwald couldn’t help but give a shout. She had her eyes closed.

“HALT! WHO ARE YOU?!”

“HARRY?!”

“Shit.” She opened her eyes and gave Grindelwald a glare even as she healed his wound and vanished in shadow. The Dark Lord jumped up and looked through his cell door window and watched her wipe the guards’ memories.

The boy beside her was shaken.

“I have what we need. Come on. We have five seconds before they wake up.” She grabbed him and gave Grindelwald one last glower before she vanished right when the guards woke up. They sneered at him. 

“Really? The Dark Lord is afraid of mice?” Moody barked a laugh and ordered everyone back to their posts. Grindelwald felt a little irritated, but mostly amused, that Harriet made his shout a fearful one in their minds.

He clanked and clinked back to his bed.  _ So, Harriet Potter suspects me for what’s happening at her precious school? _ He chuckled. “She’s a dangerous one indeed. Not stupid, she is…”

~meanwhile~

Harry brought Ron to the chapel and immediately started pacing.

“What’s the matter? Was it him?”

“It was really Grindelwald in there. He can’t leave those chains empty without setting off alarms, and he can’t fill them with someone else without setting off alarms. But there was something wrong with his magic. Something wasn’t right. It wasn’t…his.”

Ron stared at her. “What do you mean?” He jumped up from the pew he was sitting on and grabbed her arm. “Harry talk to me. Please!”

She exhaled. “Ron, Magic that is used, do you know where the energy goes? Once it leaves the soul of the caster?” He looked at her and then shook his head. She looked at her hands and then wandlessly conjured fire. “It first goes into the spell. Once the spell is stopped or completed, then the energy is either consumed from the spell, or it dissipates into the earth again where all magical energy originally comes from and goes to.” She started pacing. “The magical energy that I used to revive Grindelwald’s magic should have either been used up by him coming to full strength or dissipated into the earth. It hasn’t.” She stared at him hard. “My magic is still there. I don’t know how or why, but it’s there. And I don't _like_ not knowing.”

Ron frowned. “Then tell someone!”

“How?! Will I jolly go up to Dumbledore and say ‘by the way, when I dropped in on Grindelwald the other day, I found out that…’” She shot Ron a caustic look. “Oh, that would go over very well!” He flinched slightly.

“Right.”

“I'll have to research this via Death and the Black Family library. You need to keep Tom and the rest off my scent.” He nodded somberly. Harry thought of something else. “Oh! Ron, another thing! Make sure Ginny doesn't have a talisman or magical item that is being used to siphon off her energy. Neither Blaise nor Grindelwald are near her, so it's got to be done distantly. If we cut that off, then she'll stop fading.” 

Ron’s eyes widened, and he nodded quickly. “I'll go through her school things. You get into her room somehow.”

“Right. Let's go check on Hermione.” 

~days pass~

Harry looked at Tom. “I was wondering if I could see your dorm room. I’ve never seen it before.” She shrugged suddenly. “Except the once. But that doesn’t count.” She grinned at him. 

Looking at her with thoughtfulness, Tom frowned and then shrugged. “We’ll have to ask our heads, but I’m sure Snape won’t mind.” He glanced at her hair. “Whatever your hair being red means, he’s been damn near cordial to you.” She chuckled and leaned against the Astronomy Tower railing. 

She looked at the birds. “I wish I could fly. You know. Without a broom or anything. Just control the wind and gravity and fly on the currents.” He leaned near her and hummed, looking at her closely.

“You know, Harry, you’re a very pretty girl.”

Her heart stuttered. “Oh?” She gave him a vivacious smile. “Tell me more?” She fluttered her lashes, making him laugh. 

Waving his hand, Tom snorted. “Oh stop. Take me seriously, Harry. You’re a very pretty girl. With your looks, titles, wealth, and talent, you could really go places. Either marry well or absolutely crush the political world. Can you imagine? You and me together? Taking the Ministry by storm? A power couple if there ever was one.” His eyes gleamed. 

Harry shivered in the wind and smiled at him brightly. “Can I imagine it? With your Slytherin cunning? And my titles? I have the Potter House and the House of Black. You have Malfoy, Zabini, and Nott!”

“And Lestrange, not to mention the Weasleys as well. They may be poor, but they're respected. If I’m part of their family, then I’ll carry their political weight too.” He curled an arm around her, allowing his robes to cover her. Harry huddled near him.

“You really think we could pull this off?” 

Tom smiled at the ‘we’. “Of course, Harry. After graduation, I could be well on my way to becoming Minister within a decade.”

“And I?”

“Well, separate of the Ministry, you could become a huge political name in the Wizengamot. Perhaps the next Grand Sorcerer, or Chief Warlock.” He looked at her carefully before adding, “Or perhaps…the wife of the next Minister…”

Harry stilled and then slowly moved away to look at him. “Tom?”

“We  _ would _ be good together, Harriet.” He looked at her without expression. “Two powerful children grown up to be two powerful adults. We could finally bring about equality. Strengthen the Statute of Secrecy, keep the Muggles out of everything. You and I could do it, Harriet.” His blue eyes gleamed.

She shivered again but for an altogether different reason. “Tom, we’re twelve, we shouldn’t be thinking about unions and marriages for convenience! We should be thinking about the next test and whether this teacher has it out for us or not.”

Chuckling, Tom grabbed her hands. “Harry, you and I will never be like normal children. Never. Why bother?”

Looking at their clasped hands, Harry kept her face placid and calm. She looked up at him and quirked a smile at Tom. “Let’s take that slow, Tom. Many things may change. You might find a Slytherin girl who will knock you off your Anti-Love Perch.” She smirked at him. “Or I might find a boy who I love more than anything- Tom!” His hands had suddenly gripped hers painfully tight. Harry yanked her hands away.

He spluttered and started apologizing profusely. Harry didn’t know if this was Grindel-Blaise’s control or if this was actually Tom. She didn’t look forward to finding out.

“Harry, I’m so sorry! Please…forgive me?” His eyes were wide. Harry smiled at him. 

“It’s fine. I know you didn’t mean it.” She patted his hand and then pulled away before he could grab her own hand. “Let’s go in, huh?”  She gave Tom another careless smile and walked towards the stairs. “I don’t know why you think it’s wise to plan ahead anyway, Tom. For all we know both Grindelwald and I might be dead within the decade.” Harry reached for the door and pulled it slightly open.

“Harry, please!” His voice sounded pained. “Why do you continuously say things like that?”

Unknowing to them, Snape and McGonagall had been talking in the side hallway that they were about to enter.

Harry dropped her hand from the doorknob. “Talk like what? Grindelwald killed my parents. Both James and Lily Potter were renowned for being excellent duelists. I’m twelve. Grindelwald is back-”

“But he’s in prison!”

Harry laughed caustically. “Prison? Tom Riddle, grow up!” She was tired of everyone underestimating him. “Listen, Gellert Grindelwald is a dangerous and cunning man. He cannot die. He got the Hallows. I am facing a man who cannot die, Tom. What bloody chance in hell do I have of survival?! The only chance I’ve got is to become just as immortal as he is but to do that I need the Hallows. I can’t get the Hallows, because they’ve been lost again after Grindelwald. He’s fucking powerful! If you think that damn prison is going to hold him for long, then you’re as stupid as Filch!” She inhaled slowly and pushed open the door. 

She was so agitated that she didn’t even sense the two teachers, Disillusioned, near the end of the hall. Exhaling, she smiled at Tom quiet like. “Tom, all I want to do is free my godfather, live with him instead of those hateful Dursleys, and live for the present day. I can’t foresee the future. I can’t plan for something I might not survive to see. You must understand me, Tom.” She looked at Tom with a distant smile. She realized that she was beginning to feel too much.  She couldn’t let that happen. She couldn’t allow herself to become close to anyone. If she took Death up on his offer, then she would be forced to live on while everyone else died. She couldn’t…let herself get close. Swallowing, she gave Tom a light laugh and pranced down the hallway. “And honestly, who cares if I die? I have lived a full life, and that’s all I need.”

“Damn it, Harriet Potter! You need to stop acting like a martyr!”

“And if I don’t?”

“Then-” 

She gave him a wide smile. “Then what?”

He cursed again. “Then I’ll tell Ginny Weasley you want to die! And Hermione too! I’ll tell Molly Weasley!”

Harry’s smile vanished. “You wouldn’t! That’s not even true! I don’t want to die! But if I do, then I shan’t be put out by it!”

“That’s the same thing! You have no fear of death! It’s unnatural!”

“What is unnatural is wanting to fight against it.” Tom glowered at her. Harry only just refrained from stomping her foot. “Thomas.”

He faltered. Her eyes were dark. The shadows had grown. “Harry, stop! Whatever you’re doing! Stop! You’ll get caught!”

“I’m sick and tired of playing along! I’m sick and tired of all the whispers! The rumors! I’m going to tell you and if you don’t like it, then I’ll wipe your memory. You want to know why the Ministry is so afraid of half the Dark Magic out there?” She moved swiftly up close to Tom. “It’s because it’s too powerful. It’s uncontrollable. There is a section of Necromancy that allows a person to control another person’s soul. Yes, Tom. It’s exactly how it sounds.” 

She smiled at him prettily. “I could honestly steal a person’s magic and make a wizard a Muggle and a Muggle a wizard. That’s what Grindelwald forced me to do. Soul Magic frightens the Ministry. It frightened them so much that they did a worldwide con job on all those who wanted to learn it. They started by strongarming the researchers and scientists back in the 1400s.” Tom stared at her with wide eyes.

Harry snarled, for the first time, showing human emotion in front of Tom. “Listen to me, the magic, the energy, is pure, it’s not dark or light! The person’s heart! That’s what twists everything. When the magic goes through the person’s soul, it becomes dark, but before that, it’s simply energy. Believe me, Tom! Please! I’m telling you the truth. Necromancy is nothing more than another form of magic! It’s not dark. It’s not addicting! It’s not cruel! There is no blood sacrifice. The only thing that makes it illegal is the fact that it’s too powerful for the Ministry to be comfortable with! But honestly, they’re afraid of everything that makes them feel less powerful, including field mice!”

Looking at Tom straight in the eyes, she whipped out her wand. “You’ve wanted to know my secrets for the longest time, Tom. Fine. Legilimens!” She showed him everything, vaguely. She didn’t show him Death’s specific teachings, just him teaching her. She showed him the Dursley’s beating her. She showed him Harry Hunting. She showed him nearly everything.

When they broke away, Tom actually found himself crying. “What? What is…”

“They’re called tears. I’ve only cried once in my life, but I’m pretty sure it’s normal to cry.” Her voice was monotone.

“When?” His voice was hoarse. “How old were you?”

“I was three when I began my necromancy training. I was eleven when I cried for the first time in my life. He had been ignoring me, giving me the cold shoulder, because I wanted to die like a mortal. I wanted to give up, you see. I felt the loneliness acutely.”

Tom was still gasping for breath. “And everything I’ve ever researched? It’s all lies?!”

“We’re talking about the Ministry, Tom. Of course, it’s all lies. That’s all they ever do is  _ lie _ .” She was calm again. “Hermione and Ron don’t know about me being beaten by the Dursleys. I would request you don’t tell anyone.”

“Why?! Bloody hell  _ why _ ?!”

“Because Dumbledore would simply send me back to them. He knows about them. He also knows about the Necromancy. He’s not against it because it’s all I’ve got against Gellert Grindelwald. You know everything about the training and the Dursleys. Hermione and Ron know about the training only. I told them because I knew they would accept it more than you would. You’re still afraid of Death. Even now, I’m thinking of wiping this entire scene from your soul.”

“Not my mind?” He looked up at her, eyes red from crying. He felt all her pain from the beatings. All her rage and pent up agony. It was echoing inside him. He felt the desperate love she had when she brought back her parents’ souls for the first time.

Harry had kept the knowledge of her being a Master of Death from him. She was still holding that in reserve just in case Grindelwald was reading Tom’s mind.

Tom tried to stand. Harry calmly helped him up. “How can you keep all of that inside you?! Everything I’m feeling! It’s…not…you never showed a single fragment of this on your face!”

“I have learned to keep my face controlled and guarded. Any sign of weakness is taken as an invitation for more beatings by Uncle Vernon.”

“At least you caused his belt to go up in flames.” Tom looked at her darkly. “I want to kill them all.” He wasn’t joking. Harry shrugged. 

“I’m waiting for  _ him _ to have them. He wants to play with them a little.” 

Tom’s eyes widened in shock. He shuddered. “Fucking hell, this is twisted. You’re actually on conversation basis with him?!”

“Yeah.” Harry shrugged. “Come on. Lunch is about to start. We’ve already wasted half of our Friday.”

“I don’t think this is a waste.” He looked at her. “Don’t wipe me. I’ll keep it mum. I won’t even use it.”

Lifting an eyebrow, Harry smirked. “Thanks Tom.”

“Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“What you feel for your godfather, that’s love right?”

“Yeah.” He rubbed his chest. 

“Why can’t I feel it?” He looked at her with mild concern. “Why have I never felt love before?”

Harry bit her lip.  _ ‘Death?’ _

_ ‘He's was conceived while his father was under the love potion. His mother, for all intents and purposes, raped Tom Riddle senior. When Tom was born under that, he was born without the understanding of love. He cannot naturally know what it is, cannot feel it normally, and has to be taught the power of love.’ _

Harry looked at Tom. “Um…I’m no good at potions, but it sounds like what Snape said about Amortentia. Your father said your mum um…didn’t ask for his permission before having you, right?”

Tom scowled darkly. “Yeah.”

“She was a witch. Maybe she…used the Love Potion on him? That would explain why you can’t…feel love.”

“Bloody hell. You’re right. It makes sense.” Tom turned around and shouted in rage as he punched the wall. “DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!” He shuddered in disgust.

“Tom…you can learn to love. It’s not impossible.”

“What is there to love?” His voice was rough. “What’s the use of love?”

“It saved my life.” Her voice was nearly silent.

Tom turned quickly and stared at her. “What?” His eyes were full of yearning, hope, and fear. “Harry?”

“When Grindelwald tried to kill me, my mother stood in his way. She refused to let him murder me. He killed her when she jumped in the way of the Killing Curse. When he tried to kill me over her corpse, the spell was rebounded by her powerful protection of love. That she died for me, with love in her heart, it saved me. That is the only reason I survived. My mother’s love is the only reason you have me as a friend right now.” Harry stared at Tom intently. “Do you understand?”

“I would…I would die for you. That’s love?” His eyes were half closed. Harry smiled and pulled him into a hug. 

“Yes, Tom. That’s love.” She spoke softly. “That’s love for a friend.”

“Liar.” She glanced at Death and then closed her eyes.

_ ‘He cannot fall in love with me. He cannot.’ _

“He already is, Harriet.”

_ ‘No, he’s not. He can't be.’  _ She ignored Death’s sigh and continued giving a stunned Tom her hug.


	10. Irrefutable Proof

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ginny is very determined, and Nick gets it next.

Severus looked at Minerva after the students had left. 

“Well!” Minerva stared at him. “First, we’ll talk about how you purposefully covered us and listened in on a private conversation!”

“It was Miss Potter. I think she’s quite used to having no privacy.” Severus stared at Minerva with disdain. “I also didn’t see you making yourself known.”

The older woman flushed and then glared at him. “I didn’t-”

“Spare me your trivial justifications, Minerva. What do you think of what we heard?”

She huffed but answered him quietly. “Someone began training Harriet Potter at the age of three in very controversial Dark Arts, and Albus knows of it and hasn’t seen fit to stop it.”

“Miss Potter’s defeatist attitude irritates me.” He sneered quietly at her words. “She won’t live out the decade my arse.”

Minerva frowned and clasped her hands. “She doesn’t sound like a girl about to injure herself.”

“Of course she wouldn’t kill herself! How can you still believe all that rot?”

Eyes flashing, Minerva spoke up defensively, “You were the one who helped me with the wards!”

“Yes, to help save her from attackers. Not from herself. Honestly, what does it take for magical people to get a little common sense?” She glowered at him, but he ignored her perfectly well.

“Well! What do you think about this Necromancy business?”

“I think learning how to fight against Grindelwald is an excellent idea and that she should continue.” He gave her an imperious stare. “And we should refrain from mentioning it to anyone.”

She waved her hand impatiently. “Of course, I know  _ that _ ! But don’t you wish to know  _ who _ taught her? Who found out where the girl lived? How did they know? There is a leak!”

Severus went slightly paler. “Then, we should inform Dumbledore, but no one else.”

“Quite. Let’s go immediately.”

~meanwhile~

Ginny frowned as she watched the Headmaster. She gazed intently at the wand in his hand.  _ He shouldn’t have it. It doesn’t belong to him.  _ The urge to snatch it away was almost overpowering. It was all she could think of, greater than her need to kill Harriet Potter.

She needed to steal back the cloak from Potter, the ring from Riddle, and the wand from Dumbledore. 

She had to get them.

She  _ had _ to.

~meanwhile~

Harry looked intently around her while Tom was out dealing with other students. She exhaled.  _ ‘Death! Where is it? Do you know if he constantly has something-’ _

“If he has it with him, then search his person.”

_ ‘I can’t do that!’ _

Death shrugged and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. “It’s not like he would stop you.”

She stared at him darkly before returning to her search.

“He’s coming.”

Immediately, she sat back on the chair that she had been sitting on when Tom left. She started looking through his books idly as the door opened. Suddenly, she noticed a journal that was…shining with a certain glow of Tom’s magic. 

_ It’s his bloody soul! Why the hell is he pouring his soul into- _

Tom snatched it away from her and slipped it into his cloak pocket. “Looking through my things isn’t nice, Harry. How’d you like it if I did it to you?”

“You  _ have _ .” She arched an eyebrow at him. He flushed and then shot her a glare before motioning around his room. 

“This is it. Not much, but it’s my second home.”

“Speaking of which, you haven’t told me how you actually feel about the Weasleys.” she gave him a curious look. He made a face. 

“Definitely a step up from Wool’s, but there’s little to no privacy to be found there. Every nook and cranny is filled with a redhead.” He snorted and shook his head. 

“Yeah, I kinda wonder if Molly Weasley knows about spells that can kill the egg before it gets fertilized.” They smirked and then changed the subject. 

“Have you noticed Ginny’s health lately?” Harry gave Tom a searching look disguised by a smile. He frowned.

“She does look rather sick. Anything the matter?” He pulled off his green tie and hung it up. 

“None of the healers can find anything the matter, but her brothers are getting worried. She’s dying and they don’t know why.”

“Dying? Surely it’s not  _ that _ serious?!” He gave her a shocked stare. Harry rubbed her face tiredly.

“She’s dying, Tom. I can feel it. Her soul is losing energy. She’s literally  _ fading _ from existence. I have no clue as to how or why, but she is…” Harry looked around. “I’d better leave, don’t wanna overstay my Gryffindor welcome, you know.” He chuckled distractedly and escorted her out.

~later that day~

Tom smiled as he wrote out what Harry told him into the diary. As he finished his entry and then closed the book and snapping the lock in place, he frowned. “Now what did I…” He opened the notebook but saw nothing written in it. Humming, he tried to remember what he wanted to write in but it was gone. Frowning darkly, Tom picked up the book and stared at it hard.  _ There’s something wrong with this book. I know there is. But…what?! _

~days go by~

Harry looked up as Professor McGonagall went through and collected the names of everyone staying on for Winter Break. A student, Harry didn’t know the Gryffindor’s name, raised his hand. 

“Professor?”

“Yes, Mr Glide?”

“Shouldn’t you encourage Miss erm…her to go home and get help?” He looked at Harry, who smiled at her homework. Hermione looked outraged on her behalf. Ginny looked fearful. Ron looked irritated. 

Though, he was irritated a lot nowadays. His fear for his sister’s life was getting to him in a big way. Also, his wand still refused to work, which was making him into a right monster to deal with on his own. 

Speaking up for her teacher, Harry said lightly, “Considering that I don’t even know your name, I don’t think you have a need to give any input in my life, Mr Glide.” She looked at him prettily. “Also considering that I’m not trying to kill myself, and someone is actually out to kill me, I think staying at Hogwarts is actually safer, don’t you?” She signed her name as it went by. 

McGonagall gave the boy a sharp look and then nodded. “Quite so, Miss Potter.”

After the signup, Harry, Ron, and Hermione met up quietly. “The rest of the potion is ready, but we need two more items.”

Ron stopped fiddling with his stupid wand and glowered darker. “Yeah, things we can only get at Snape’s.”

“We’ll have to steal them.” Hermione swallowed. “I think I’m the one who should do it. He’s always got his eye on you two. Harry, I think you start a diversion.”

Harry swallowed, “I can turn invisible-”

“No good. Snape  _ always _ has his eye on you. You don’t notice it, but he sees what your eating, drinking, writing with, who’s around you, who’s coming near you. It’s actually a bit freaky.” Ron looked at her while shaking his head. “Turning invisible will not work this time.” Harry sighed. Starting a commotion was it then, but that wasn’t going to be fun. More like poking a dragon in the eye with an acid covered poker and expecting it to enjoy it.

Later that day, when they were in Potions, Harry swallowed and lit one of the fireworks and launched it over Goyle’s cauldron. The highlight of her day was seeing Pansy’s nose blow up like a balloon. Of course, Tom had escaped unscathed, his shield spell reflex was suspiciously fast. Draco had a watermelon ear. Harry also had suspiciously fast reflexes and simply evaded the liquid. Tom looked at her intently before continuing with his snickering about Pansy’s situation.

Hermione slipped out without anyone noticing. Her front was bulging slightly. Harry prayed that Snape wouldn’t notice. 

Smiling at Snape prettily, Harry watched as he stared straight at Ron with a beady-eyed glower. Ron was paling, but he was innocent, and Harry was too good of an actress to be discovered only because of her face. 

As the class was leaving, Pansy sneered, “Well it couldn’t have been Potter. There’s no way to die from the Swelling Solution, unless you swallow it.”

Ron snarled. “Shove it, Balloon Nose!” She went red with anger and embarrassment as the Gryffindors laughed. 

Harry rolled her eyes and looked at Tom, only to frown when she saw him touching something in his school robe inner pocket. She knew it had to be the diary.

~the next day~

Harry laughed as she and her friends played in the snow. She looked at Ron and then threw a snowball straight into his hair.

He gave a challenging bellow and packed a huge snowball. Harry screamed and raced away. Hermione had proved to be the best aim among them, if Tom wasn’t playing. 

After they were completely soaked to the skin and shivering, they decided to go back inside. Ron looked at Harry and silently asked if she wanted to sneak past Hermione and into the kitchens sometime soon for cocoa. She grinned and nodded. He grinned back.

Tom was at the entrance when they came in. She grinned at him and moved to give him a freezing hug. He made a yelp, that he would later claim never to do, and backed away fast. She chased him until she laughed and rested her hands on her knees. 

There was a scraping sound above her. Frowning, she looked up. The scream that came out of her was reflex. Harry threw herself to the side, but not far enough. Her legs were crushed by the stone griffin. Another pain-filled scream was ripped out of her. She couldn’t lift it off of herself because her wand was laying two feet out of her reach. The teachers were racing into the main entrance. Harry moved and felt another bout of pain lance up her body. 

She couldn’t take it and fainted.

Hermione was screaming. Ron was pale. Tom was damn near passing out also. The teachers quickly got a stretcher, lifted the stone, and rushed Miss Potter, yet again, to the medical ward.

~hours later~

Pomfrey looked at her. “Miss Potter, the rumors are one thing, but this…” She sat down next to the girl. Her face painfully soft and kind. “Please speak to me. I am a medical practitioner. I can keep confidences.” The woman laid a gentle hand on her arm.

“What are you talking about?” Brows furrowing, Harry looked at the woman in confusion. “I didn’t drop that bloody statue on top of me!”

“Miss Potter, there was a timed explosive spell behind the statue that would cause it to move. That spell’s echo was found in your wand.”

“My…” Harry closed her eyes. First her cloak and then her wand. Whoever it was, was getting bolder. “What’s the next step?”

“Every weekend, you will meet with a mind healer. They will help you work through this.”

Harry knew that mind healers had to have complete openness from their patients. She would have to show everything to them. Laughing quietly, Harry smiled at the woman and then moved out of the bed, her legs fully healed. 

“Madam Pomfrey, I am a minor. The government cannot force me to take healing unless specifically requested from me, my magical guardian, or my Muggle Guardians. The Dursleys will not allow anyone from this community to come onto their property, so good luck asking them. And Dumbledore will not give his permission. So, there’s that. I shan’t be seeing a healer after all. Thank you for saving my legs and healing my bones. I respect you, but not enough to go through  _ that _ .” She winked and then danced out of the ward.

Harry didn’t know how it always happened, but word of her speech to Madam Pomfrey got around. Everyone was staring at her and wondering why Dumbledore continuously stopped everyone from helping her, when she was clearly unhinged. Harry ignored them all excellently. 

A few days later, they, meaning the school, put up a notice that they were starting a Dueling Club. Shoving her hands into her pockets, Harry grinned. “Sounds fascinating. Shall we go?”

Hermione and Ron had believed her when she said someone stole her wand. Tom took some persuading, but he finally accepted it. Harry didn’t know what Dumbledore or Snape or any of the other teachers thought now that they seemed to have ‘irrefutable proof’ that she was trying to off herself.

Harry rolled her eyes at the thought.  _ Honestly, I wouldn’t try to die by crushing myself with a statue. How inelegant! _

At eight precisely, she and her friends arrived. Justin Finch-Fletchley swallowed. “Um, I know it’s not any of my business, but do you think you should be in a place with flying spells and possible danger?”

Harry gave him a look and then smiled sweetly and distantly. “Justin, I will always do whatever I want to do. You just haven’t realized that fact of life yet.” With a wink, she slipped away. Hermione looked at her with disapproval, but Ron was snickering. 

Catching her eye, Tom nodded. She and he would duel together. 

After Lockhart gave an excellent performance of a bumbling fool, Harry found herself paired, not with Tom, but with Pansy.

“Maybe I can help you with your lifelong goal of meeting Death, Potter! Serpentsortia!”

Harry stared at the long cobra. Suddenly Tom was in front of her, hissing at it. Harry didn’t know what he was saying, but the snake obviously calmed down. Then Lockhart decided to ‘take care of it’. 

“Oh for the bloody love of Morgana!” Tom started all over again, eventually calming it down. Harry slumped slightly. She would have hated to die of snake poison.

Snape disposed of it and then gave Pansy a sharp look, but no points were taken. Tom growled. “When I become prefect, I will make her wish she was never born.”

Harry laughed and linked arms with him. “Ah well, at least I have a friend who could help you dispose of the body.” He looked at her in some confusion, but they were distracted by Lockhart before she could inquire. He was now having everyone practice in pairs.

Once they all got into pairs, Harry smiled at Tom sharply. “Don’t think my little suicidal self is going to take it easy on you.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” They moved fast, shouting out spells and sometimes moving without needing to say them. Eventually, all the other students paused and just watched. 

Harry keenly realized that she was showing off her power. She started downplaying her power again, reverting gradually back to simpler spells. Tom gave her a look of confusion. However, the duel was suddenly cut short when she allowed a spell to clip her and cause her to drop her wand.

Everyone congratulated Tom on winning a good fight, but he stared at her with a mixture of confusion, anger, and hurt. Harry sighed. 

After the duel, she pulled him aside. “I didn’t want anyone to realize how powerful I am. Remember?”

“What? You’ve never told me this. How could I know to remember?” He raised an eyebrow at her. Harry looked at him sharply. 

“I  _ have _ told you this. Last year!”

“No. You didn’t. Pretending to be weaker than you really are is silly. I don’t want to win a crooked fight.” He stomped off. Harry gaped at him in no small amount of confusion.

“The bloody hell?!” She shook her head and then joined the throng of students and waited for the stairs to swing towards them again. 

All the warning she got was two hands at her back. Then she fell forward. Harry twisted around and grabbed the edge with a cry and a grunt. Her arms felt like they were burning. Snape was hurrying forward.

“HARRY! LOOK OUT!”

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Snape hurrying along the moving stairs towards her. Ron reaching down. The stairs swinging towards her, threatening to not only knock her off the edge but send her to her death. Harry inhaled.

The stairs swung closer. 

Harry exhaled and let go. Twisting, she got ahold of the stairs and held on, feeling herself jerk as the stairs locked into place again. Snape hurried closer and pulled her up into his arms. She clutched at his robe and hissed out, “If I truly wanted to die, why would I have held on?”

He sighed very quietly. “Very true, Miss Potter. Which is why I do not believe you wish to die.” Straightening, he glared at them all. “Stand aside, or lose a limb.” The crowd parted.

When Harry saw Madam Pomfrey, she laughed lightly. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this, Madam Pomfrey.” The woman didn’t find any of this amusing.

The next day, Harry slipped into the library to do some studying for the exams when she overheard a few of the Hufflepuffs talking. 

“Do you really think Justin’s in trouble?”

“Why shouldn’t he be? Creevey tried to stop her, and look where he is! Justin tried to send her out of the room, and he’ll be next! I know it! Who knows what creepy powers she’s got. You’ve both heard her laugh at and make jokes about Death. She’s…not right in the head.”

“But she seems so nice, and she got rid of Grindelwald twice for us. That’s not evil.”

“But we really don’t know why Grindelwald was after her in the first place. He might have wanted to get rid of the competition! Another Dark Lady instead of a lord! After all, how could a person survive a curse like that?! It might have addled her head! No one knows because she’s the only one who’s gone through it!”

Harry slipped around the corner and crossed her arms as she leaned against the bookshelf. She waited for them to notice her. The Hufflepuff boy next to Ernie saw her first. She smiled at him. Ernie paled.

“Are you paling because I caught you gossiping and calling me a maniac, and you’re feeling guilty about it? Or are you paling because you think I’m going to lash out at you and kill you? If it’s the latter, then you really are a moronic fool. It must be true what they say. Hufflepuffs have no brains.” She shrugged lazily and looked at him. He grabbed his friends and rushed away without even talking to her. Harry pouted. “Rude!”

She grabbed her book and hurried out. After talking to Hagrid, she continued on only to freeze. 

Justin…

And Nick?!


	11. The Diary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry cracks the diary and gets more than she bargained for.

“Death, what would kill something twice?”

Death materialized quickly and stared at the ghost’s form. He frowned in confusion. “This has never happened before.”

Then Peeves came by, and Death ducked out just in time. And Ernie thought this was proof. Harry looked at him and then at the students staring at her in fear and terror. Harry watched as everyone dispersed. She was escorted to the Headmaster’s office. When she arrived, McGonagall told her to wait and then left her there alone.

She looked at the hat and scowled. Turning, she saw a dying phoenix. “Oh…I wish I could have seen you while you’re an adult. I’ve heard phoenixes are beautiful!”

“That they are. That they are.” She turned and saw Dumbledore enter. Just then, the bird popped off in a puff of smoke. Harry jumped. She couldn't help it. Dumbledore chuckled. 

After a few minutes of pointless conversation- in Harry’s opinion- and an interruption of Hagrid, Dumbledore gave her a serious look. “Is there anything you wish to tell me?”

“Besides the fact that someone possibly working for Grindelwald is trying to kill me and is attempting to kill off students? None.”  _ You don’t tell me anything, why the hell should I tell you? It’s clear you don’t trust me, Headmaster. _

“Harriet…”

She gave him a look and then sighed. “Ginny Weasley is dying. Another Necromancer is stealing her life energy. I have two suspects, but I don’t know who it could be. One has all the means but no motive and the other has the motive but no means.”

“The only other Necromancer is Grindelwald!”

“Not true. I shan’t tell the name, but there is a student whose family has followed the arts for generations. That student is weaker than I am, though. I can’t imagine being fooled by him or her.” Harry stood up and picked up a feather from Fawkes. 

Dumbledore looked worried. “How long does Miss Weasley have?”

“Till the end of the school year, then she’ll slip into a coma. After that, two months more, maybe less before she’s dead.”

“Why would someone wish to do this?”

Harry looked at him closely and then sighed. Raising her hand, she drew on the magical energy of the castle to her. It glowed like an orb in her hand. “Energy from all sources can help us perform magic that would have normally been beyond our capabilities of strength.”

Frowning, Dumbledore stood up and paced. “And so, your suspects are Grindelwald, who is safely in his prison. I check every day at noon. And this student, who does not know as much as you.”

“Exactly. I haven’t found anything to link her with this Necromancer, but I am searching.”

“Please keep me informed, Miss Potter.”

She snorted. “I shall.”

~time goes on~

Earlier that week Ron nearly got into a fight with Blaise, but Harry pulled him away before the teachers could see him. Tom had wanted to know what the hell it was about, but Harry couldn’t explain. Wouldn’t. That had been a fight between them.

As the days passed by, Harry grew slowly bored of all the students treating her like a suicidal maniac. Fred and George- much to Tom’s extreme displeasure- treated this like a huge joke. They called themselves the Suicide Squad, spoofing off a Muggle comic strip. 

“Make way! Make way!”

George added to Fred. “Harriet’s got places to go!” 

“People to kill!” Fred grinned.

“Ways to pop off!” 

“Busy girl!” Fred winked at his sister, who had grown so pale that she was almost translucent. Harry was too busy laughing genuinely for the first time in a long time to notice how ill Ginny had grown with all the teasing. 

Harry frowned in thought as Fred parted the crowd before her. Tom’s memory was growing spotty. He didn’t seem to remember their conversation at the tower. He didn’t remember some of their past conversations. He didn’t seem to remember any of her memories either.

This was worrying. She couldn’t understand what could freeze a ghost, or be controlled only by Slytherin’s heir. She didn’t know who Ginny could be drained by. She couldn’t understand how Tom could be losing his memory. She didn’t understand why her magic was still in Grindelwald.

She  _ hated _ not knowing.

At least with the Polyjuice, she had a chance at finding out what she couldn't discover through reading Ginny’s and Tom’s souls, which had become more like swiss cheese than anything else.

~days pass~

All the students- or a good portion of them- thankfully left the school for the holidays. Harry finally had some peace.

It was on Christmas day when Hermione came back into their dorm room declaring the potion finished. “Ron’s getting ready. We can do it after Christmas feast.” Harry yawned and nodded before getting up and looked at herself. 

“Hermione, I’m gonna go visit Sirius? Okay?”

“How is he?”

Harry grunted. “The Ministry is dragging their feet, but at least Dumbledore was able to get him into house arrest instead of that awful jail. Also, he isn’t around Pettigrew anymore, so that’s nice for his blood pressure.” She smirked at her friend and then opened her presents. After she was done with that, she bid goodbye to Hermione and Ron and slipped away to Sirius’ new home in the country.

The Aurors were standing around, bored-looking. Harry gave them all a few looks and then slipped in unnoticed. With a smile, she appeared in front of Sirius. He grinned at her and hugged her tightly, whispering, “Hey Harry, how are you?”

“Fine. Everything is going perfectly for this mystery puppet master. Everyone is convinced I’m suicidal, and I’m methodically killing off anyone who tries to stop me. Tom is under the influence of said puppet master but  _ good _ . His memory is slipping. Ginny is dying and generally looking ill.” She sighed and slumped into a sofa. “How are you?”

“Dumbledore was just in. Says that I have a chance at being freed before New Year’s. Which is actually bloody amazing all things considered.” He smirked darkly, and then he looked at her with concern. “You look tired.”

“I feel tired.” Shaking her head, Harry drew out some of her shadows. “My life is so busy, I don’t even have the time to practice anymore. I feel ill from worry and lack of sleep. I’m planning on staying in the Underworld if you can’t get freed fast enough by summer.” She gave Sirius a look. “I’m not returning to the Dursleys. I will kill them before I live with them again.”

He hummed and then pulled her into a side hug. Harry smiled at him, suddenly bright once more. “But, I got you a present!” She pulled a huge box from the veil. 

He grinned and opened it. The first box inside was a box of doggie biscuits. He gave her a dry look that set her giggling in a rare fit of childish humor. The next present in the box was something more serious. It was a bunch of letters that James had dictated to Harry while she had visited her parents. Some were for Remus as well, and some were from Lily. 

“Harry…I don’t… _ thank you _ .” He pulled her into a tight hug, shoulders shaking, but no tears were falling. Harry smiled against his chest. 

“I love you, Sirius.”

“I love you too, Harry Berry.” She snorted at the new nickname.

It was about an hour later when she finally tore herself away. She came back to the school and gave Tom his present. “Birthday and Christmas rolled into one, my dear pit viper.”

He rolled his eyes and then opened it. He stared at it in shock. “Harry…”

“From the Black Library. It is a complete collection of Dark Potions. Hope you don’t use any on me.” She winked at him and then dashed away laughing. She caused a Hufflepuff to pee himself when she screamed ‘BOO!’ at him as she raced past. Tom started laughing as he opened the book and started reading. He was now two Christmas presents and a birthday present behind. He hated feeling in debt. 

Humming under his breath, he tried to think of what to get her. It was hard because there wasn’t anything that Harry seemed to need, except new guardians. Tom straightened and then quickly scribbled down an idea. 

_ ‘Get Harriet a full medical spells book.’ _ She seemed to know everything about anything except healing. That might be something. He grinned and nodded to himself as he continued reading.

~meanwhile~

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione in the hall of the bathroom. “Listen, I was thinking, why don’t you two get the Polyjuice, I turn invisible, and-”

Making a nervous bleating type sound, Hermione slapped her arm and pointed behind her. Turning, Harry swallowed reflexively. Snape, in all his dark billowy cape glory, was stalking towards her. 

“Miss Potter, come with me, please.” His smile was nasty, but Harry didn’t think he could show off any other kind of smile. 

“Certainly, Professor.” She nodded to her friends. “Go ahead without me, guys. I’ll see you later.” Hermione and Ron gaped at her but eventually nodded and watched her walk away with Snape.

They entered the dungeons and then turned to a darkly lit corridor and entered Snape’s personal office. Once inside, Snape pulled off his cloak and sat down and stared at her over steepled fingers.

Harry stood there, staring back. 

Suddenly, he spoke. “I overheard you speaking to Mr. Riddle about your abilities and training in the Astronomy Tower. Who trained you, Miss Potter? Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn’t confide that bit of information to me.”

Staring at him intently, Harry straightened and stared into his soul. She saw everything he saw and heard everything he heard. Coming back quickly, she smiled at him faintly. “Why should I tell you anything, Professor? Why shouldn’t I simply erase your memories?”

“Why shouldn’t you tell me?”

“Betrayal. Azkaban is a very real threat.” Harry shrugged innocently and then looked up at him through her lashes. 

Snape scoffed. “Azkaban. Bah! You aren’t afraid of Dementors.”

She smiled and then sat down primly across from him. “What do you want from me?”

“Information.”

“Specifically?”

“Who trained you? What are your powers in detail?” He looked at her with intensity. 

“Death trained me. He saw me when he came to collect the souls of my parents. Realizing who I was, he decided to take me under his wing as his new apprentice. He hadn’t had one since Morgana.” Harry looked at Snape challengingly. He chuckled quietly and nodded.

“I see. And your powers?”

Surprised and impressed that he believed her and could tell she was telling the truth, Harry continued. “Numerous. I’d rather keep that to myself. Why do you ask?”

He suddenly looked guarded. “Professor Dumbledore, while speaking to myself and Professor McGonagall, who also knows about your powers, but not who taught you, hinted that you had some power over ghosts and could cause spirits to come back…temporarily.” He stared at her, dark eyes glittering. Harry pursed her lips and then pulled out her pin.

“He was probably referring to this. It is a Necromancer tool. Very handy. You can summon a spirit for one hour and then wait twenty-four hours for the cool down. Once that is over you can summon the same spirit again for another hour. I will let you keep it for a week. By the end of that time, I will want it back.” She stood up and straightened her robes. “I’m trusting you and Professor McGonagall. Do you think I should?”

“Trust her? Or myself?”

“Either. Both.” Harry looked at him with wide eyes.

“You can trust me and her. We will not tell, especially since the headmaster has told us not to.”

Nodding calmly, Harry hummed thoughtfully. “Professor, please keep an eye on Tom Riddle for me. He isn’t…doing well physically, but refuses to go to the nurse.” She shrugged carefully, not glancing at him at all. “Have a pleasant conversation with whomever you wish, Professor. Happy Christmas.”

“You as well, Miss Potter.” He stood up and opened the door for her. 

Harry smiled at him. “I will be quite fine on my own, Professor, have a good day.” She slipped down the halls like a shadow. Snape went back inside to his rooms. Harry looked up when she was suddenly joined by Hermione and Ron. They were mid transforming back to themselves. 

“It isn’t Blaise.” Ron was glaring at the floor. Hermione gave her a worried look. 

“It isn’t Malfoy. Both of them were quite worried about Tom’s strange behavior. You’re right, Harry. He _is_ being controlled.”

“Who did you go as?”

“Goyle and Crabbe.” Ron was curt and stomping up the steps.

Hermione sighed tiredly and rubbed her face with her hands. “It was a washout. It wasn’t Blaise, Malfoy, Pansy, or anyone in Slytherin.” She stuck her hands deep into her robes and smiled slyly. “However, we  _ did _ manage to steal Tom’s diary.” Her eyes gleamed. Harry gaped at her and then snatched it from her as they hurried up to their tower. 

But the diary proved harder to crack than Harry had anticipated. She couldn’t read it, besides realizing that it was holding Tom’s magic, more than was healthy. The spells on it were first class, the wards protecting it were exemplary.  Hermione and Ron found it rather difficult to hear her praising the work of whoever did this, but Harry couldn’t help but appreciate excellent spellwork, even if it was for a horrible purpose.

The days turned into weeks. Tom’s reaction to it being missing was what frightened Harry most. He was equal measure relieved and panic-stricken. Manic and sedate. It was like he was addicted to it. Harry didn’t doubt that there was some type of thrall over him, a compulsion to get the book back. She kept it hidden completely and tried to crack it any chance she got.

Hermione kept searching for Ginny’s, but there was no way it could be in her room. It must be on her. Ginner wasn’t likely to allow Ron to search her person though. This killed Ron.

As January turned into February with Harry no closer to cracking the diary, Ron was getting snappish and Hermione more secluded into her books and homework. Harry just kept an eye on her cloak and on Tom’s ring, and on him and Ginny. She hated feeling helpless.

~February 14th~

Lockhart had done it again.

Harry glared angrily at the Dwarf who was singing to her, who had ripped her bag and ruined her things. After the song was over, Pansy tried to make a joke, but Harry whipped out her wand and stared at the girl. “Do it, Parkinson.” There was a frayed edge to her voice that warned  _ everyone _ she would snap soon and fast.

Pansy opened her mouth, but Tom pushed by and had his posse clear everything up. Blaise quickly helped mend her bag and put everything back. Hermione grabbed the diary before Blaise could touch it. Harry pulled everything into her arms and nodded to Tom and then hurried to class.

Pansy smirked at Draco. “Don’t think she liked your poem, Draco.”

Giving her a look, Draco snorted. “As if I would make up a poem that horrendous. Get real, Pansy. You’re living in a fantasy world. I would sooner be your boyfriend than make a poem like that.” She flushed angrily as he walked away with a distracted Tom.

Harry glanced at her diary that Hermione handed back to her. Frowning, she opened it and then cursed as the ink absorbed. “Of course!” Glancing at Flitwick, Harry then looked at her friends and gestured to the diary. “The ink is absorbed! Whatever they write is transferred to the puppet master!” She thought of Tom. “They are compelled to write in it. The more they write in it, then the more they pour their souls into it. But how does this affect memory?” She bit her lip. “There was no master diary in Grindelwald’s cell.”

Ron kicked at his desk while Flitwick wasn’t looking. “Damn it all to hell.”

“Mr Weasley! Five points from Gryffindor for language!” Flitwick gave him a sharp look and then returned to the lecture. Harry sighed and rubbed her face.

“At least we know this much. Take away the diary, and Ginny’s soul will go back to normal.” After a _long_ while, as her soul still had to replenish the energy she had poured into the diary. But Harry wasn't going to tell Ron that. Not right then when he looked murderous.

“But what about her and Tom’s memories?” Hermione gave her a worried look. Harry frowned and shook her head. 

“This magic is…honestly beyond me. I don’t know.”

Ron snarled, “If you can’t help save my sister’s life, then WHAT GOOD ARE YOU?!” The class wasn't over yet, but he stormed out just as well. Harry stared after him. 

“He didn’t mean it, Harry! Please don’t think he meant it!” Harry brushed off Hermione’s attempts at comfort and walked calmly out of the class. Everyone was staring at her in wariness. Harry shouldered her bag and wetted her lips as she headed for the kitchens to wait for her next class. She felt like having a hot chocolate. As the day progressed, Ron didn't talk much to her. She could tell he felt guilty, but his pride stopped him from apologizing.

Suddenly, she stopped still in the hallway. Soul Magic. Feeling like screaming and slamming her head against the wall, Harry hurried off, away from the others. This was Soul Magic. This diary was essentially Tom's soul. Whoever was the puppet master, was blocking this diary like a Soul Occlumens was. So, she only needed to get into the diary like she would get into a guarded person's soul!  When she got to her room, she studied the diary, not willing to risk writing anything it in, but she scanned it further, now knowing what to look for. She found it alright. All the words Tom wrote, curled into her brain. There was too much information and emotions laced into it. Everything he had felt, artificial and real, slammed into her like a huge wave of poison.

When Hermione came into the room, with Lavender and Parvati right behind her, she found Harry collapsed on the floor. It wasn’t a good scene. They revived her and rushed her to the medical ward. Again. Harry refused to say anything this time. She just stared at the ground and acted like she was alone. 

Pomfrey sighed explosively and raised her hand up to scrub at her face. 

It was perhaps Harry’s weakened mental walls that caused her to flinch instinctively away, and Madam Pomfrey stared at her with wide eyes, hand slowly lowering. Her voice was quiet. “Miss Potter, do your relatives…beat you?”

“No.”  _ Damn, wasn’t convincing enough. I have got to get my act together! Get with it, Harriet! _ She swallowed and shrugged. “Used to but they stopped a long while back. I’m fine now.” She smiled prettily, green eyes shining with purity. Pomfrey looked confused. Harry smiled wider. “As for my collapse, simple, I’m tired. All this crap is getting to me. If you excuse me, I’m leaving now.” She looked at Madam Pomfrey and spoke into her soul. **“There is nothing to detain me for and nothing to report.”** That done, she slipped away and back to her room, assured that Pomfrey would obey her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all of you who've commented on my chapters so far. I enjoy reading your feedback!  
> Ink...


	12. The Face Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all leads to an old, secret chamber beneath the school.

~time passes~

Harry grinned and gave Sirius a tight hug as he stepped out of the courtroom, a free man. The newspapers were exploding with the news that Sirius Black had been innocent all this time. Harry looked up at him just when a reporter snapped her photo. She had a happy, relieved, adoring look in her eyes. Sirius had a beaming, roguish smile that still made women swoon. Harry smirked at that. There were several girls in Hogwarts who were caught keeping the clipping photo of him winking at the camera. 

After this, Snape became extra venomous in his personality, though he was always suspiciously calm and…almost kind to Harry. He had returned her brooch to her and had looked more passive. His soul still churned with anger but it was with more everyday worries and concerns, not that thick rolling guilt she had sensed last year. Harry was happy for him. He had found much-deserved peace.

Now that she had figured out the contents of the book, she needed to figure out who was getting said information. Harry realized that everything Tom wrote in it must be actually taken from his soul. He had no memories of it once he wrote it in the diary!

“Have to admit,” Harry looked over the diary before putting it away and looking over her new classes to sign up on, “the person who made that is clever. Their own Obliviation machine. Very efficient.”

Hermione sighed. “But how can we destroy it and release Tom? It won’t burn, boil, or be cut up or ripped.”

Shooting Harry’s bag a dark glower, Ron snarled, “Why not stab it with something.”

“Same as being ripped. It can’t be pierced either.” Harry sighed and looked over at where Dumbledore usually sat. “Maybe I should bring this to him. He might know what to do.”

“Maybe you should.”

“You’ve told him about Tom?”

“No.” Harry cut herself off when Tom came up to them. He looked much better now, but he still had an anxious air about him, jumpy. He also glared at Hermione more than usual, mostly when she was talking to Harry.

“What classes you all going to take?” He lifted a brow. 

Harry hummed. “Care of Magical Creatures, Divinations, and Arithmancy. It's learning a new language. Should be interesting.” Tom grinned at her. 

“We’ll be in it together.”

“Me too!” Hermione faltered at his irritated look. Harry spoke over that smoothly. 

“Good, then we can all help me not fail.” She smirked and then looked at Ron. “You?”

“Divinations and Care of Magical Creatures.” He looked at Hermione and frowned. “Hermione, you can’t join every single one of the classes! That’s insane!”

Tom snorted. “Then it fits her.” Hermione gave him an annoyed look and then sniffed at Ron.

“I can too!” 

Of course, it was only a short while later that Dumbledore was kicked out of office. Harry felt like screaming at the morons. She knew the Puppet Master was laughing up a storm, whoever he or she was.

~days later~

Harry heard a scream from Parvati and hurried in after Hermione.

“Harry, I don’t know who did this, but…it was like this when I arrived!” She opened the door and showed Harry. 

Gasping, she rushed to where she had kept the diary. It was gone. And so was her cloak. She looked at Hermione and nodded. Her friend paled. Tom had grabbed it again.

_ Shit! _

~hours later~

Harry stared at her petrified friend. She had been onto something. Harry knew it. Hermione had looked at Tom, mumbled ‘Heir of  _ Slytherin _ , of bloody course!’ and had run off to the library, wishing her luck at Quidditch. And now she was here.

Slumping onto her knees, Harry sobbed. Ron had slipped out, herding everyone else, including a Tom who was both smug and horrified. Eventually, Harry found herself back in the small little side chapel near the entrance to the dungeons. She was simply staring at the candle she lit for Hermione when suddenly it hit her. 

“Myrtle was murdered at the same time the Chamber was opened the first time. What caused it to be closed up then? What saved the school from shutting down?” She leaped up, crossed herself politely and then rushed from the chapel after blowing out the candle.

“Myrtle!” Hurrying into the bathroom, Harry looked at the morose ghost. “What killed you?”

Getting the story out of her was like pulling teeth, but Harry finally got it. Eyes, a boy’s voice, and hissing. 

“Hissing…” Harry stared at Myrtle and then rushed to the library. Death was there, having been attracted by her rising emotions. 

“Is there something wrong?”

“No, something right. It’s a big, bloody snake! The Heir of Slytherin can only speak and control snakes. That’s why this monster is Slytherin's!” She kept her voice low. Death cursed.

“Obviously.” 

“I know, right?” She chuckled and then hurried to the tower to speak to Ron.

After she explained it to him, he frowned. “What kind of snake petrifies its victims?”

“Basilisk. Unless you stare straight at it, then you’re stone.” Death sounded bored. Harry gave him an irritated look and then repeated his words. 

“Myrtle’s bathroom has to be the entrance. She only saw the eyes, and she heard the voice! There’s no way a giant basilisk could get into the bathroom unless it was leaving. Listen, I say we search that place tonight and find out where that entrance is. Tom’s been teaching me parseltongue. I could possibly get us past.” Her eyes glinted eagerly. 

Ron nodded intently. “The sooner we stop this puppet master, the sooner we save Ginny and Tom.” He frowned. “How does it get around?”

“If you cared to read the crumpled paper in Hermione Granger’s fist, then you would also know that it was via the pipes.” Death smirked at her. She groaned and told Ron.

“Then it’s gotta be the bathroom!” She nodded slowly. 

Her brows furrowed. “Think we should tell the teachers this?”

“Yeah. This is too big for us.” Ron grabbed his stuff and helped her up. They hurried down to the staffroom. however, while they were there, McGonagall called out in her own personal PA system way that everyone should return to their safe rooms. The House Commons or the staffroom. 

Ron was pale. “Not another attack?! Not now!”

Harry looked at Death as he suddenly appeared before her looking grim. “I’ll be collecting two souls if you are quick about this Harry.”

“Who was it?!”

The teachers came in, and she and Ron ducked for cover. Death stayed quiet and listened.

Harry muffled her cry of dismay as she heard Ginny’s and Tom’s name. She looked and Ron and spoke to him telepathically.  _ ‘The Puppet Master is down in the Chamber now. Death warned me that we don’t have much time. They will both die, if we don’t save them now!’ _

_ ‘But how?!’ _

Harry gave him a grim look and was about to respond when Lockhart entered the room. The teachers quickly sent him packing. Harry stifled a snort and then lifted a brow. ‘ _ I have an idea for a distraction. Give the monster Lockhart and then kill it while it’s killing him.’ _

Ron gave her a look of shock and disbelief. She shrugged, only half joking. 

_ ‘Though I am serious about bringing him with us. Always nice to have a witness or a scapegoat if something goes wrong. And he’s gotta have learned something from all his travels, even if he didn’t do those things he claimed.’ _ She stood up when the last teacher left. 

“Come on, we’re collecting Lockhart and getting down to that Chamber.” It didn't take long to collect the wayward professor and make for the bathroom. But then Lockhart both stupid and suicidal at the worst of times and collapsed everything on top of them.  Harry hacked and coughed. “Ron?! Ron! Are you alright?!”

“Yeah! Trapped under the rock, but I’m fine. This bloke isn't though. Got blasted by my wand. Go on and save my sister! I’ll be fine.”

“Alright! Be careful!” She hurried ahead and spoke once again in Parseltongue, making a note to thank Tom for teaching her simple words like please and open and stop and help.

What she found when she got there was…disheartening. “No. No, please be alive.” She hurried forward and checked their pulses.

“They won’t wake, my dear.” 

Stiffening, she turned and stared at him in shock. “This is impossible! Those chains!”

Gellert Grindelwald chuckled and shrugged. “You were right on track with noticing your magic. I kept it. You may have more learning, but I have more tricks.” He winked at her. “Schooled by Death. Fascinating. I would so love to pick your brain.” 

Jumping to her feet, Harry reached for her own wand but found he had it instead. _How did he?! What?!_ Tutting, Grindelwald smiled at her as Harry tried to play for time. “What did you do? Why did you suck their power?!”

“I _am_ still recovering, and besides…” He pulled out her cloak and Tom’s ring. “I needed Ginny Weasley for the theft and assassinations. It was so wonderful seeing everyone guard against you instead of for you.” He winked. “It was also a very nice distraction.” He pulled out his wand and then whispered, “Wake up, Tom. Call that pretty snake of yours to come and play with Potter.”

Tom stood, not looking at her and then called out to the statue. Harry cursed and tried to stop him, but the mouth of the statue opened and the bloody great basilisk came out. Gellert laughed and smiled at her wider.

“Tell her to kill Harriet Potter.”  Tom obeyed without question. The basilisk lunged. Harry screamed a curse and vanished through shadows, appearing beside Gellert. She tried to grab her wand, but he ducked away. 

“Even if I die here and now, Dumbledore will stop you!”

“He’s not even here, little girl. How could he possibly stop me? No, you will be too distracted saving your little friends while I slip away with my two souvenirs. Dumbledore abandoned you and this school.” He tutted. “Why do you still believe in his power?”

Harry snarled and kept an eye on the snake. “Dumbledore never truly abandons any student of his. He will always be here, either physically or in spirit.”  A cry caught everyone’s attention, even the snake’s. Harry laughed as she watched the phoenix, but her laughter was cut short when she saw the hat dropped into her hands. Frowning in confusion, she tilted her head. “What?”

Gellert Grindelwald laughed and shook his head. “Ah, Albus. He must be slipping in his old age. This is what he sends his champion? A songbird and an old hat…my my.” Suddenly, the snake screamed. The eyes were gone thanks to Fawkes. Gellert sighed. “Tedious.”

“How?! How did you escape multiple times to do all of this?!” Harry lashed at him suddenly with her shadows. He parried and grinned. 

“Well, I already said so. With your magic. I made your magic imprint itself on the chains, instead of mine. That way, I tricked the wards into thinking that I am always there. Your magic is still thrumming happily along the chains, making it seem that a person is always inside them.”

Harry was impressed. She ducked a lunge from the snake and stared at Gellert. “You clever bastard.” He laughed.

“Such language from a twelve year old!”

Harry clenched tighter around the hat in her hand and then frowned when it suddenly grew heavier. “What?” She pulled out the sword of Gryffindor with a laugh. “And you doubted him.”

Giving the sword a double-take, Gellert laughed in surprise, almost wistfully. “Fine, fine, I shouldn't have doubted him. His secrets have secrets, and his backup plans have backup plans. Silly me.” He shrugged. “But then, a sword against a basilisk isn’t much competition, my dear.” He stepped back and leaned up against a clean patch of wall and smiled. “Have fun.”

Harry would have lunged at him if the snake hadn’t struck at her. She looked around for some strategic help and spied the statue. Her friends were limp and unconscious. At least, she _hoped_ they were only unconscious. She could have taken on the snake by itself but didn't want to turn her back on Grindelwald. She could take on Grindelwald, but didn't want to turn her back on the big bloody snake! This was tedious. _Shadows are my best bet right now. Long distance, but I have to make sure I'm close enough to get to the mouth. Basilisk and Dragon scales are the only things that my shadows can't fucking cut through! Wouldn't you know it?! How is this my life! One of my biggest weaknesses is sleeping happily under my own dorm room!_

Shaking that fear away, she climbed the statue and stared at the blinded snake. Fawkes was now hounding Grindelwald, keeping him from escaping by setting the place on fire. She raised the sword and watched the snake pull back, preparing to lunge at where her scent was concentrated. Timing it just right, she gave a scream. Wrapping her shadows around the snake to hold it suddenly still, she stabbed its upper mouth with the sword. The snake screamed and pulled back, pulling her off-balance. She fell down the statue’s face and landed where Tom and Ginny were laying.

Panting, she struggled to get up but screamed out when her arm erupted in agony. Slowly, Harry frowned and looked at her arm. How could that have… _how?!_

“You’re dying, Harriet.” Gellert actually looked sad. “So much power and potential wasted. You would have been a terrific second in command. I still don’t much care for the idea of you dying.” She snarled and stabbed him brutally in his side with her shadows, sharpened to spear points. He grunted and back away quickly, eyeing her warily. "A cornered animal. Still just as dangerous. Pity."

She coughed up blood as she watched him bleed. But then he was healing himself quickly and her inflicted damage was gone. Fawkes trilled and landed beside her. She pulled out the fang in her arm and looked at the books. Smiling with blood coated lips, she knew she could do one last thing before she died. She would come back and everyone would know her secret, and then she would be chained herself. But before that happened…

“Gellert, you should really stop underestimating me.” She raised her good arm up and then slammed it first into Ginny’s diary and then into Tom’s. Both of them jerked and gasped and started breathing the moment their books were destroyed. They were still unconscious, but the connection was broken. Gellert cursed. His strength flagged. 

He sighed and shook his head as he stared at the snake. “You’re right. I really should stop.” Tipping an imaginary hat, he slipped on the ring and threw on the cloak. Winking, he spoke, “This round is a tie, Pet.” 

She growled and animated the basilisk. “No, it’s  _ NOT _ !” The dead beast rose up and bit at where Grindelwald had been before. Its tooth snagged on the cloak, not harming it.

The cloak was swept away, revealing Grindelwald, but he vanished before the dead snake could lunge again. Harry let the corpse fall again before collapsing and coughing up more blood. Her friends were stirring and waking. Harry dimly thought about the state of their souls. Would they have their memories and lost life energy back? Was the damage irreparable? If destroying the dairies didn't fix everything, then the damage was done. Soul Magic was powerful, but it could not restore memories once deleted. Harry wasn't that good. Wasn't good at all, actually. She coughed weakly and closed her eyes.

“Ugh…what happened?”

“Tom? What are you- HARRY?!”

“NO! HARRY!”

She coughed again and tried to smile even as everything faded away. She felt something warm hit her arm. The pulsing pain faded, but she lost consciousness, even as Tom and Ginny screamed for her to wake up.

~four hours later~

Harry allowed Dumbledore to go into her mind and see everything that happened. After seeing what she saw and heard, he explained it to the others. 

“Gellert Imperiused both Tom and Ginny, giving them enchanted diaries. Whatever they wrote into them, they forgot. They also forgot that they were even writing anything. Ginny’s job was to end Harriet’s life. Tom’s job was to shut down Hogwarts via the Chamber. However, Harriet is still alive, and no students died. So both children are vindicated and free of blame and guilt.” He gave them both intense looks. “Older and more experienced adults have been seduced and tricked by Grindelwald before. There is no shame in falling for his tricks.” Both nodded, but Tom still looked disgusted with himself.

Hoarsely, Harry sighed and spoke up. “The chains were tricked. He kept my magic.” 

“Yes, I will have to fix that.” Dumbledore looked disgruntled.

“Where is he now?” Mrs. Weasley was holding Ginny close to her. She had offered to hold Tom, but he shied away. 

Instead, he cuddled Harry, assuring himself that she was alive. His mind was in turmoil. He still couldn't remember anything he wrote or had done. He could guess alright, but all the things he reported to Grindelwald were gone completely. It infuriated him. It was the same with Ginny, though she was more prone to tears than he was.

“I will find him, Mrs. Weasley. Have no fear.” Dumbledore smiled at her and then turned to Harriet. He was silently asking her if he should tell Tom what she confided in him back at the Astronomy Tower that Snape and McGonagall overheard. She shook her head. He sighed but acquiesced. It was hers to tell or keep silent.

When they were finally dismissed, Harry grinned and knew she had just one more thing to do before resting. Ginny had said that Lucius Malfoy had given her the diary, but she had no proof, and Malfoy could use her now spotty memory as an escape. It enraged Arthur Weasley to not be able to pin the wily wizard.

However, when the man came storming up with Dobby at his side after the Weasleys left and Tom and Ginny had been taken to the medical ward, Harry spoke up to him in the hallway.

“Hey! A little something to give back to your Dark Lord, with my regards!” She threw him a filthy sock. Lucius caught it and then threw it down.

“One day, Potter you will go too far!” Snape suddenly appeared at Harry’s side. His glare was dark and promised pain. Malfoy sniffed and beat a dignified tactical retreat. “This isn’t worth my time. Come Dobby.”

The Elf stayed put. Harry grinned and leaned slightly against Snape, pretending that she was casual, when actually, she could barely stand. Snape gave her a concerned look. 

“Dobby! Come!”

Harry laughed at Malfoy’s face when he found out what Harry did. Snape snorted when Dobby sent him away. “I like that Elf, despite all that he’s done to you.” 

Snape then silently escorted her to the medical ward, where Tom and Ginny were. He left her at the door. Harry grinned brightly. “Well, for once it isn’t me who’s stuck here! I’ve been bounced back and forth from this place too much this year. It’s beginning to be like a second home.” Ginny stared at her.

“Oh, Harry! I’m so sorry! You probably  _ hate _ me!”

Hurrying over to the girl, Harry gave her a smile and a tight hug. “If anything, I respect you. All it would have taken to kill me was a Killing Curse. Instead, you went all roundabout. It was your own free will trying to fight against his control, Ginny. A weaker person would have killed me on the first day. You fought and fought hard.” She wiped away the girl’s tears and smiled at her. “I would very much like it if you became my friend, Ginny. I think a witch like you would be a very good ally to have.” Her green eyes were warm.

Ginny stared at her in awe as she nodded slowly. Harry stepped back and let her brothers fuss over her. She turned to Tom. Tom swallowed and then looked at Harry intently. “Harry…everything I’ve done…”

She smiled at him. “No one died and no one will ever know. You don’t even remember. It’s fine, Tom. Simply promise to yourself and me that you will never let Grindelwald get the drop on you again.” She lifted an eyebrow at him. “Half those memories weren’t useful anyhow. You’re strong. You’ll get over this horrible year.”

He scowled. “I vow it. He’ll pay for what he did to me.” They went off and changed and then met up with Ron and Ginny for the midnight feast. Tom didn’t even look irritated when Hermione rushed up and covered Harry with hugs and congratulated both her and Ron for solving it. He even accepted a hug from her too.

The entire hall fell silent when Dumbledore rose and looked at them. “I called this feast to order for several reasons. As you all know, Grindelwald has managed to escape his cell. He, through dark magic, caused all that happened this year to occur. However, he has been stopped and expunged from Hogwarts by Miss Harriet Potter, Miss Hermione Granger, and Mr Ronald Weasley. It is thanks to them that Hogwarts will remain open.”

Everyone cheered. Dumbledore raised his hands again. “I would like it clearly put now, before we all go home, that Miss Harriet Potter is not and never has been wanting to die. Every attempt on her life was  _ not _ of her own making. It was Gellert Grindelwald attempting to kill her.” Everyone stared at her in shock. Harry stared straight at Dumbledore, ignoring everyone else. “She will not be held responsible for anything that happened during this school year.” He stared at everyone until he was certain that they understood him.

For the first time in a year, Harry felt at peace. She smiled and enjoyed the company of her friends. The four hundred points was a bit sour for Tom, but he rolled his eyes and let the Gryffindors cheer. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading the second book! Thank you all who have commented! I enjoy reading your feedback. The third book will be introduced tomorrow! ; D  
> In the third book, more characters will be given more 'screentime', and an old enemy will come back to bite Harry.  
> Thank you for your comments!  
> Ink...


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